Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions/Sanzaru Games.
Claimer: I own all of my original characters.
And here's chapter 4! Thankfully updates for my stories have been coming sooner, so hopefully I can update both this story and my request more and more often. (Especially considering how long it took to upload the full story of For Every Cooper) but anyway, please read, review, and let me know what you think! Thanks!
Chapter 4: The King's Plot
Nottinghamshire, England 1453 A.D.
My lips were almost touching Katherine's before she pulled away suddenly, her crimson lips being taken away. Her head moving to the side and her gaze shooting down the hall as she kept her paw on my own, making her actions even stranger.
"My lady," I said after taking my fingers from her chin, "if I hast done something to offend thee…" she silenced me by placing a slender finger upon my lips, her soft gaze meeting mine once more.
"Thou hast done nothing wrong," she glanced to the side again, "but I believe that I hear my parents approaching." She smiled, her fingertips gently stroking my beard before sliding them down, back to her dress front. My attention turned down the hall as well, my ears picking up on the argument ensuing between the king and queen. Queen Isabel came storming through the hallway with her drunken husband following closely behind her.
"I wish not to continue this conversation, Hector! Leave me be!" the flustered queen continued to walk away from her husband, only to be stopped by his firm grip against her wrist. She tried pulling, but the much larger male kept her in place.
"Thou shall not walk away from me!" King Hector's voice roared through the hallways, no doubt alerting any residents inside of the commotion with the royal family, "I order thee, my wife, to do as I tell thee! Your duties as queen are to give me a son! Not this poor excuse of a daughter!" Katherine's head snapped in her father's direction, hurt etching her features.
"Father!" she shouted towards the obese raccoon, who glared at his daughter in return.
"Silence, Katherine, leave us!" Hector turned to his wife again and tightened his grip upon her wrists. I hated to see a man abuse his wife, someone he was supposed to love and cherish for all time, but I could do nothing to stop him…for he was the king.
"I have told thee before Hector, I will not try and bare another child. After Katherine was born upon this world, I have tried to give you a son, but I will not loose another child before they are to be born!" the queen struggled against her drunken husband, but to no avail.
"Then I shall have thee replaced, Isabel of Corinth!" I stayed silent, knowing I could say nothing or risk certain doom, but nothing stopped Lady Katherine Bandicoot of Nottinghamshire.
"Father!" she shouted once again to the king, whose rage continued to grow. The king turned to his daughter again, saying not a word, and raising a paw to his daughter. He swung forcibly, hitting the princess across the cheek with the back of his paw. Silence ensued as Katherine yipped at the blow to her face, placing one of her paws to the blow spot; a red spot already starting to form upon her grey cheek.
"I told thee to leave us, Katherine!" the king shouted again before decided that he was finished with this argument. He gave his other arm a tug, sending his wife to the ground roughly. I stepped forth, ready to help the queen back to her feet, only to be threatened by the king as well.
"Keep thy paws away from my family," the king growled once he passed over his wife, passed his daughter, and by me. I stayed put, not wanting to upset the king even more, and waited until he had rounded the corner before turning to the queen. I held out a paw to help her up, only to have her shove it away, getting up herself. Queen Isabel rushed to her daughter, whose tears had started staining the fur upon her cheek, and pulled her towards her bosom, her motherly instinct kicking in.
"Leave us, Sir Galleth. Your duties hath been relieved for the evening." The queen spoke to me firmly, still flustered about the confrontation with her husband.
"Shall I retrieve Sir Henry and have him escort thee to thy chambers, my Queen?" she shook her head firmly, her gaze shooting in my direction.
"No!" the queen voice becoming firmer, "Leave us and alert no one of tonight's incident. Leave!" I bowed my head to the queen, saying nothing before leaving the queen and princess as I was told. I made haste as I scurried away from the queen, not wanting to face her rather either. The halls of the castle remained silent, the only small sound coming from the torches lining the wall for slight illumination and my own armor. I removed my helmet, scratching through my hair, and sighing in the process.
I truly felt sorry for the two females associated with the king; they weren't treated like a father and husband should treat them. King Hector was many things…a drunk, an abuser, a tyrant, an adulterer, a neglector, and a good king was not one of his traits. He was always inside a bottle of wine, drinking until he could barely stand upon his own two feet or stay seated without leaning to one side. As I just saw for my own accord, he was abusive to both his wife and daughter. Slapping, striking, and throwing them around as if they were mere rag dolls. He ruled his county with no mercy, taxing the poor, which made up ninety-five percent of the population, without fear of what would happen to them. He imprisoned innocents inside the castle's dungeon, banishing his noblemen or even stripping a knight of his title. Adulterer and neglector were two more traits the king possessed. Taking a new woman…or two…into his bed chambers each night, cheating on his lovely wife each night. With this, he neglected his wife and child, which eventually drive his wife into the arms of another man…and to me that man seemed to be my old friend Sir Henry.
He was also controlling of his wife, thinking he could use his kingly powers to control her. He was threatening her every day with the threat of being replaced if she did not produce him a son. But to everyone in the castle, it was known that the queen could bare no more children. Katherine's birth was difficult enough, almost killing both the queen and the newly born princess, but since then, Isabel suffered a miscarriage with each pregnancy. I had no children of my own to know what that truly did to a woman, but with each lost child, the queen would spiral into a deep depression, taking months for her to recover. I shook my head, knowing how much of a monster the king was, and continued to my chambers. I passed by the king's council room, the door cracked open, and two voices being emitted from the room. I recognized both of the voices; the king's and the king's advisor. I knew that listening in on the king and his private conversation could be dangerous, but I wanted to know what he was going to do with his wife. I pressed myself against the wall, inching towards the partly opened door silently, and listening to the king and his advisor.
"Forsooth, what am I to do with my wife? She refuses to give me a suitable heir to inherit my kingdom. If I have no son, then my brother shall have to take over, which would crumple everything I hath worked towards." I hear the bottle of wine being opened and poured into a goblet, no doubt in my mind that the king was diving into the bottle once again.
"Your Majesty," the weaseled voice of his advisor proclaimed, "Why not ask for an annulment of thy marriage? Then thou may find a suitable woman to give thee a son." The king scoffed, his footsteps walking around the room.
"The church would never allow it." He growled as the sound of his goblet being emptied into his rotund belly filled my ears, "and if one of the women in the harem were to give me a son, the church and people would shun the babe; for it was not birthed from my wife."
"Then, my king, why not simply tell a tale that your wife did birth such a babe. That it was a miracle birth! You just have to be sure that the new squandering babe would indeed be a raccoon. For you do have many…varieties…of women in the harem."
"Are thou sick of the mind? A move such as that would not work!" the sound of a goblet being refilled sounded inside before the king spoke again, "Even if my bride we to stay silent on the matter, my daughter would certainly have a slip of the tongue, only hurting the reputation of the child."
"That's it my king! Your daughter is the answer! Thou dost not need a son!" I narrowed my eyes, listening intently on what they had to say about my beloved Katherine.
"How so, my advisor? My daughter shall never be allowed to rule my kingdom!" the advisor chuckled at the kings' statement.
"But of course, my king, but if she were to marry a prince that would be a continuation of your rule…then the Bandicoot family may remain on the throne and she shall have no say in the local politics."
"Yes," the king purred, "Yes, indeed! There is a prince many provinces over that would be an outstand protégée to mend to my image. If he were to marry Katherine, I would have to chance to teach him how to 'properly' rule my kingdom."
"And of course, thou should become richer at the alliance. With your dearly beloved daughter, the gem in the eye of the peasants, finally being wed to royalty, many-a-people would come from far and wide to pay a pretty penny to watch your daughter finally wed. After all, sire, she hast become an old maid; she must be wed soon."
"Yes, now, write to the king of the province the prince is from, asking for permission of his son's hand in marriage to my daughter. The king and I are good friends, he surely must agree." There was a short pause inside the room, which made my heart start to pound, wondering if the men inside were ready to leave.
"Sire," the weasel asked cautiously, "what if your daughter dost decide to refuse the marriage?" the king chuckled, sending a chill down my spine. I listened carefully, dread coming over my heart for the princess when I heard the king's reply.
"No worries…she hath only two choices. Accept the marriage and allow my new son-in-law to rule with the same iron fist as I have or be convicted of treason…and executed."