The Magnificent Seven, Chapter Eleven
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Show of hands. How many people think I own Castle? WRONG! Rating: M Time: The future.
Rick was both impressed and disappointed with Alexandria the Farthest. The first thing he noticed was an earthen berm that seemed to go all around the city. "What's with the wall or whatever?"
Penelope answered. "To keep enemies out, of course. The open spaces in front are all mined. There are warning signs, but pay attention. There are bunkers built into the wall and artillery positions behind it. Plus, there are ancient directed energy weapons in the towers. Any enemy army that attacked Alexandria the Farthest would be slaughtered."
The towers were the second thing that both impressed and bothered Rick. There were at least a dozen of them sticking up above the berm. One, a slim tower, appeared to stick up a good twenty stories above the berm. The lower half was all soft pastel colors that Rick saw slowly changing. The top half was a dull grey. Another tower resembled a bright red mushroom, but Rick could see that most of the windows were gone. A third building was a square black building that looked like it had been melted on one side. A fourth slim tower seemed to have had its top sliced off diagonally.
Before he got through examining the buildings, Kate took his hand. "Let's find a place to stay." They headed towards the city gates. They found a line of travelers from the Poseidon's Dream already ahead of them. They waited as the line moved forward slowly.
They finally got to the head of the line where a bored soldier glanced at them and said, "Papers?"
Penelope smiled at the soldier and put small booklet down on the table in front of the soldier. "They're from another city and have no papers."
The soldier looked up and smiled. "Penelope? Penelope from Sori's? I saw you at Birthday a couple of years ago. You look hotter now than you did then."
Penelope smiled and leaned over, allowing the soldier to look down her shirt. "I am hotter than I was then, soldier. So how about letting me and my friends in?"
The soldier looked up at the team. "Sure. They'll have to sign in and then get temporary papers from the palace within forty eight hours. You know the drill."
Penelope smiled. "You know I know the drill." She whispered seductively.
"See you later?"
"Look me up."
The remaining seven signed a book for the gate guard who didn't seem to care that the names were written in the Latin alphabet, Arabic and Chinese. Then they were inside the city.
Alexandria the Farthest was even less impressive to Rick from the inside. There were wide spaces between the towers that seemed to have once been wide roads and open, green spaces. The road they were on was now barely a lane wide, the rest covered with tents, shacks, and other less comprehensible structures. Most traffic was on foot, but with many animal drawn carts visible. He counted exactly three trucks, seemingly steam powered and then looked up as a shadow passed over him. A large clear ball floated by a good twenty feet above him and the hustle and bustle of the city. A well-dressed older woman looked down on them, disdain plain on her face. Sitting next to her was a plainly dressed younger woman, possibly a maid. Two children peered down, laughing at something they saw.
"Where do we stay?" Kate asked, interrupting Rick's sightseeing.
Penelope answered. "The Restful Moonlight Inn. It's near the Palace and is popular with the better class of merchants who come to the city. And it's reasonably inexpensive. I stayed there for a week with a young nobleman from Chios. He had this habit…"Penelope stopped and looked at Chen, who seemed upset. Jealous, perhaps.
"That sounds fine." Kate said.
It was fine, if more expensive than Kate would have liked. As usual, she and Rick shared a room, Chen and Penelope another, Amadeo and Irina were together and Fuad and Hendrick shared a room with their four lady friends. Kate looked around their room. Large, spacious and with a balcony from which they could look down four stories to the street and also look over to the Palace, not that far away. She smiled at Rick who was testing the bed. She checked out the bathroom, noting that the locals seemed to go in for tubs the size of small swimming pools. At least they'd have fun cleaning up.
She started to take off her top when, as if on cue, there was a knock at the door. She sighed and went to open it.
"Sorry to bother you, Captain." Fuad said, "But we need to talk about Penelope's weapons."
Kate tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. "There's a problem with her weapon? It seemed to work well enough in the fight on the Poseidon's Dream."
Fuad nodded solemnly. "True enough. But she has a bolt action rifle and a revolver. Fine weapons locally, but we were sent here with top of the line weaponry. That indicates to me that we may have to fight, even though we're supposed to be investigating a murder. As far as I know, our alien friends had no idea we'd end up fighting pirates or anyone before we got here. Penelope needs something better that a bolt action rifle."
Kate had to admit he was probably right. "And where do we get new weapons?"
"Penelope says the Street of the Gunsmith's is near. They should have plenty."
Fels the gunsmith did have plenty. Not enough, mind you. You never had enough guns in his opinion. And the weapons the newcomers brought to his shop made his mouth water.
"How may I assist you?" He asked Fuad, guessing he was the leader of this group.
Fuad looked down his nose at the gunsmith. "I serve the famous Captain Katherine Castle." He gestured to Kate. "We need a weapon for one of her many followers. It was suggested you may have something." Fuad tried to sound as disinterested as possible.
Fels looked at the beautiful brunette who apparently led this band. Who was this famous Captain Katherine Castle, anyway? Well, a little flattery wouldn't hurt. "I would be honored to serve such a notable commander. What are your needs?"
Hendrik cleared his throat. "This looks promising." He held up what vaguely resembled an old Thompson submachine gun, complete with a round ammunition drum.
Fels smiled. "You have a discerning eye, lord. A fine weapon."
Fuad and Hendrik examined the weapon. "What kind of ammunition does it shoot?" Fuad asked.
"The seven millimeter short round, lord." Fels reached under the counter and brought out a single round of ammunition. Both Fuad and Hendrik examined the round and said "Hmm." at the same time.
"It looks like an early try at an assault rifle." Fuad said. Hendrik nodded in agreement.
"And an assault rifle is different from other rifles because?" Rick asked.
Hendrik pulled a 9mm pistol round from one of the magazines he had. "Most submachine guns fire pistol ammunition, mostly the 9mm Parabellum. People figured out you could use a more powerful round, but not as powerful as the full power rifle round, "He pulled a round from his rifle magazine out and put it next to the pistol round, "and get a weapon you could fire on full automatic that had better range and punch than a submachine gun." Fuad put an M 16 round down between the pistol and the rifle round. It was bigger than the pistol round and smaller than the rifle round. "As so." Fuad then put the new weapon's round down beside the other three. It was bigger than the pistol round, but not quite as big as the M 16 round.
"Is ammunition plentiful for this weapon? Spare parts?"
Fels nodded. "I have lots of both. It is still in use with a number of City regiments. Not the Guards, of course. They use more modern weapons, such as your own. Would you perhaps be interested in selling…"
"No." Fuad said. "Do you have any weapons that the Guard would carry?"
Fels shook his head. He did indeed have some hidden away, but he wouldn't sell them to complete strangers. Too dangerous. "Alas, lord, the Palace won't allow such sales. This is a fine weapon, though. The best that I have."
"We also need a pistol." Penelope spoke up for the first time.
"An automatic. Something that could use this round?" Fuad tapped the pistol round. "Or any other ammunition that would fit our weapons?"
Fels picked up the rounds one by one and carefully examined them. "No, lord. I have none. Your ammunition is not in my inventory, and if I don't have it, it's not to be had." He walked down the counter a bit and took a pistol from a display case. "This is my finest pistol. It fires an 11mm round. I would strongly recommend it."
Fuad, Hendrik and Penelope examined the pistol.
"We wish to sell a bolt action rifle and a revolver as well as buying your weaponry. How much do you want for your weapons?" Fuad asked.
And so the bargaining began. It took over an hour, but they left with two new weapons for Penelope.
Once back at the inn, Rick and Kate took a long, hot bath together, and continued their activities in their bed.
They were still asleep when there was a knocking at their door, just at dawn. "Damn!" Rick muttered. Kate started to get up. "No, go back to sleep, honey. I'll take care of it." Kate didn't argue and Rick pulled on his pants.
"What?" He said, opening the door. Before him was young boy, perhaps twelve, dressed in a bright red uniform. The boy looked up at him with a superior air. "Captain Kessel?"
"It's Castle. And that's my wife. She's still asleep. And thanks, but I gave at the office."
"I'm from the Palace." The boy said self-importantly.
"I still gave at the office." Rick said grumpily and started to close the door.
The boy stuck his foot in the door. "You are required to be at the Palace two hours after noon with your team."
"Yeah, we know. We have to get driver's licenses or passports or something."
The boy shook his head. "Her Majesty requires your presence." The boy handed Rick a piece of paper. "Read tremblingly and obey." He said, snottily and walked off.
Kate was sitting up in bed, giving Rick a look at her boobs when he turned around. "As long as we're awake…" he began.
"We should wake Penelope up and see what this is all about." Kate finished for him.
"Can't we let poor Penelope sleep a little longer?" Rick pouted.
They both dressed and went to Penelope's room. Kate knocked quietly and Penelope answered the door, wearing a robe that she hadn't closed all the way. Rick quickly put his hands over his eyes, before Kate could cover them.
Penelope laughed. "Sorry. I'm sort of used to advertising my wares. What is it?"
Kate showed her the letter and described the young boy who'd delivered it.
"Red uniform? That was a Palace page. And the letter is from one of the Queen's secretaries. This isn't about getting our identity documents. Someone wants to see us. Someone in the Palace."
"The Queen?" Rick asked.
"Not likely. People have probably been talking about our battle on the lake and about how you came here through Cholatte country. I'd guess it's some intelligence or military type wants to know what you saw."
"That could be a problem. "Rick said. "We didn't see anything. The locals are bound to know all about the Cholattes. At least a hell of a lot more than we know. They'll smell a rat at once."
Penelope frowned. "Why would they want to..? Oh! An analogy. I see. All you have to do is be vague. You're strangers. You walked through mountains and then through a vast forest. You didn't see a lot of Cholattes. You were just lucky. When you reached the river, you followed it and killed some Cholattes. Having no maps, you really have no idea where you were."
Kate nodded. "Okay. We'd better get everyone up so we can get our stories straight. We all still have MREs, so let's have breakfast in our room in an hour."
Irina answered the door tired, looking mussed and barely decent. She agreed that she and Amadeo would be at Kate's room in an hour.
Hendrik answered the door, wearing only a shirt, which fortunately for Kate's sake, was very long. However, behind him were the four women who'd been with Fuad and Hendrik on the boat. All were stark naked and facing the door, looks of curiosity on their faces. Fuad appeared to be sound asleep on the bed,
Rick casually looked down the hall while Kate told Hendrik of the summons to the Palace and the breakfast meeting.
"Should our friends come, too?" Hendrik asked, gesturing to the ladies. "To the Palace, that is?"
Kate sighed. "Why not? The more the merrier. But do have them get dressed."
"Of course we'll get dressed to go to the Palace." One girl said, sounding insulted.
"Of course you will. Just teasing." Kate said, wondering how she had ended up with such a group.
They went back to their room. "I suppose you've had your minimum daily requirement of scantily clad women?" Kate teased.
"All I need is my minimum daily requirement of Kate." Rick replied gallantly. "But I'd much rather have my maximum daily allowance of Kate."
"Good answer. Good answer, indeed."
After they went over their non-answers for whoever in the palace wanted to see them, Kate made sure everyone's uniform was clean, boots were polished, equipment in good shape and all weapons clean and functional.
They arrived at the Palace a good hour early and found themselves standing with a crowd of people, all of whom were either here to see someone or here to try to see someone. They were politely, but firmly, relieved of their weapons, being given receipts and told where they could retrieve them when they left the palace.
Penelope snuck off with some red suited palace flunky. "I hope she has a good time." Irina said with a giggle.
"Just don't think of sneaking off with Amadeo for a quicky." Kate said.
The look on Amedeo and Irina's face told Kate that they hadn't thought of it until Kate had mentioned it. "I mean it." Kate said seriously. Amadeo shrugged.
Rick walked around the crowded anteroom as best he could, then came back to the team. "Not surprisingly, this looks like the Acropolis in Athens. But it's built to the scale of Hearst Castle. I like the carpets on the marble floor. Keeps your tootises from getting cold. Nice mural, too. I wonder who they are?"
"The current royal family." Penelope said, sliding through the crowd to stand next to Kate. The one in the middle is Olympia, Iskander's mother." Rick looked at the mural. Olympia was a babe, if the portrait was to be believed, tall and slender with a flat stomach and nice boobs, all set off by a very tight white dress. A mane of raven hair framed her face that was notable for high cheekbones and blue-grey eyes. However, the expression on her face was cold and haughty. "She looks like she can't decide whether to have someone drawn and quartered, or broken on the rack. And is wondering if she can do both." He said.
Penelope shrugged. "I don't know much about her personally. We don't move in exactly the same social circles. Of course the Palace's propaganda makes her out to be Our Beloved Queen."
"She is gorgeous, if the mural is anything to go by." Kate added.
Penelope just shrugged. "The one on her right is Phillip, Iskander's older brother." Phillip looked stern and commanding, as well as tough.
"He's...?" Kate began.
"Not all there." Penelope finished. "That's why Iskander became King."
"The kid?" Rick asked.
"Iskander's son by Roxanne of Delos, Iskander II. She had a terrible accident shortly after Iskander's death. To be expected when a foreign princess gets in the way of the succession."
"The girl?" Rick asked.
"Iskander's younger sister, Arsinoe. She's about sixteen now. She'll be a nice prize for whichever general grabs the throne. A marriage to her would help legitimatize out new king."
"What about Iskander II?" Kate asked. "Wouldn't he be next in line?"
"A child as king? That may be how they do it in this Noo Yawk you're from, but he won't last long enough to reign in his own right."
"Couldn't someone marry Olympia? She's the queen. Wouldn't that give her husband legitimacy?"
"Not going to happen." A new male voice said. "Olympia is far too stubborn for her own good. She won't let anything happen to her son or grandson, so she'll end up dead, too." The man, who had previously disappeared with Penelope, slid his arm around her. "I found out who wants you, love."
Penelope laughed. "I know who wants me." She turned to Kate. "Captain Castle, this is Attalus, Chief Secretary to Queen Olympia's senior Lady-in-Waiting. And a friend. What did you learn, Attalus?"
"The Royal Geographer has requested the pleasure of Captain Castle's company, and that of her team. Come one, love. I'll take you to him through the Throne Room. Let you see all of the famous people you only read about in those trashy news rags you're addicted to."
Attalus led them through and inconspicuous doorway and through a series of cramped passageways until they came out in the back of the throne room.
"This is used as a stage when Her Majesty has entertainers in. That doesn't happen much anymore. But, since it's the farthest away from the throne, it's not over run with people." Indeed, there were no more than a dozen bored looking servants standing around.
The team walked up to the edge of the stage and looked out over the throne room. At the far end were Queen Olympia, sitting in the center, Phillip on her right, Iskander II on her left and Arsinoe sitting below them. Below them, the throne room was crowded with people of all races.
"Is it just me, or is the crowd divided into three groups, color coded for our convenience?"
Attalus laughed. "Very good, sir. Those are the followers of the three generals vying to take over Alexandria the Farthest. See the man in the gold sash with the gold shoulder boards?" Rick saw a tall spare man with a lean face and salt and pepper hair in a gorgeous blue uniform and nodded.
"That, Lord Castle, is Menander, the commander of the Companions, and all of the Royal Guard regiments. His army is the smallest, but the best equipped and best trained and it has the advantage of being here. Very convenient if you're planning a coup."
"Ceremonial guards aren't necessarily the best soldiers." Rick replied.
"Oh, they're good. Iskander used them as his reserve on all of his campaigns. When the battle was in the balance, he sent in the Guards and then his Companions. And, as you can see, his partisans wear gold somewhere on themselves."
"Who are the people in blue?" Kate asked.
"Antipater's followers. He's the chap in the center of the throne room with his back to us. You can just see his blue sash and blue shoulder boards. He's a rather stocky fellow. He's the Viceroy of the lands beyond the Scented Sea, wealthy, industrialized cities, rich farmlands and mines everywhere. His army is about twice the size of Menander's but not as well equipped, However, Antipater controls the navy, which means no one can get across the Scented Sea to get to him."
"I think I see Antigonus, One Eye." Kate said. Oddly, Antigonus was looking away from the royal family and back at the stage. He seemed to be looking right at Kate.
"He'd be hard to miss." Attalus said. The left side of Antigonus' face was badly scarred and he was missing an eye. His sash was green as were his shoulder boards. As usual, everyone around him had green on their uniforms or on their clothing. "He commands the Army of the South, which is the most powerful army, larger by far than Menander and Antipater's forces combined."
"So he's the front runner?" Rick asked.
"No." Attalus said with a shake of his head. "He's the only one of the generals who has powerful enemies on the borders of his domain. And a lot of the cities he commands are recently conquered. If he took his whole army north, it would all explode behind him."
"So, the players are all well matched, strengths and weaknesses cancel each other out." Penelope said. "And when one makes his move, the butcher's bill will be paid by people like us."
"Come, I'll take you to the Royal Geographer. He's just across the throne room." Attalus said.
They were skirting between the partisans of Menander and Antipater when a man who had been addressing the Queen suddenly collapsed.
"Cassander, the queen's senior advisor. He has the falling disease." Attalus said quietly. "Keep going."
Amadeo stopped. "Wait." He said, and then more loudly he said, "I can help."
