Yao stood at attention towards the entrance of the large party tent, watching the Stulikyan gentry chatter to each other before the wedding ceremony. Everything had gone according to plan so far, not a single hiccup from the palace servants in setting up the venue. The sky had cleared up nicely to prevent any rain, but the large tent proved to be a very popular place for shade.
The head servant took the opportunity to observe the honoured attendee milling around. Yao still had no idea how Prince Ludwig's demeanour had changed since he returned from the failed dwarf capture in the woods. For one, he seemed to want to be near the Queen's side as much as possible, which he didn't before. In addition, some of his behaviour was, in a word, inexplicable.
Such as how, right this moment, he was leaning in and sniffing around the head of one unfortunate lady.
Yao blinked and tried to look away, forcing himself not to pay attention to it. The one time he tried to encroach on the topic with the Queen, she immediately ordered him to ignore any strange actions from Prince Ludwig. As such, the servant could only hope that King Gilbert, who had not been seen since yesterday, would figure it out.
"Yao."
Upon hearing his name, he looked around to find the voice, and quickly found it. The Baron was motioning for Yao to approach him and his companions, which Yao immediately did.
"Your Excellency," Yao greeted, "May I help with something?"
"Yes, I need to know what you know," Roderich addressed, now gesturing towards the Prince, "Has that become a new custom in Ixaidel over the last few years?"
Yao glanced in the direction Roderich was pointing, just in time to see Prince Ludwig holding a different lady's hand and raising it. However, instead of the conventional kiss on the hand, Prince Ludwig licked it instead, and the lady's face was overtaken with a disturbed expression.
"Unfortunately, your Excellency, I have no idea," Yao answered, turning back to the Baron, "I can only bring up how it has been seven years since we've had royal guests from either Ixaidel or Prathage, so perhaps they have explored new customs in that time."
"Perhaps that is so," Roderich digressed, "The other matter is that we noticed a strange man loitering around, we don't recognize him at all."
"A possible wedding crasher?" Yao implied, "Do you know where they are now?"
"Along the other side of the tent," Roderich described as he discreetly pointed in the direction, "Near the altar, the tall one dressed in a black coat and large hat."
Yao took a peek in that direction, and saw the strange fellow standing there.
"I'll go see who it is," Yao acknowledged, "Thank you for pointing them out, your Excellency."
Yao nodded at the Baron and his companions, before slowly strolling to that area of the tent. He nodded at a few courtiers as he did so, but mostly kept his eyes fixed on the strange figure. It must have been about seven feet tall, and deliberately stayed to the side of the tent instead of mingling like everyone else.
He finally reached the strange figure, and braced himself as he walked right up to the fellow. Now that he was close enough, Yao could see the man's face underneath the large hat, and couldn't help but think it was very familiar.
"Forgive the intrusion, sir," Yao addressed, "Have we met before?"
"We sure have," the man answered.
Unsatisfied with the vague answer, Yao focused on recognizing his face, even as the tent made an unexpected movement beside them just then. A moment later, Yao felt a blade press against his throat, and so he looked sideways to see exactly who had joined them.
"You do exactly as I say, and we will not hurt you," Natalya quietly instructed, "Do I make myself clear?"
"This again?" Yao whined, "Do you really need to involve me every time?"
"All you have to do is play the part," Natalya directed, "Hands in the air in surrender, eyes on me in horror, and slowly back up straight until you end up sitting in one of those chairs in the front row."
Yao nodded at the instruction and raised his hands in the air, letting out a tense breath in relief as Natalya lowered the dagger from the throat. She then circled around to stand directly in front of him, putting her dagger away as she pointed her sword at him instead. When she nodded at him with an evil smirk on her face, he slowly backed up towards the center of the room.
As they slowly moved, Yao realized that anyone who dared to glance at the altar would see a very much alive Princess Natalya holding the head servant hostage. Sure enough, they only took a few steps before the audible gasps, shrieks and murmurs started circulating the room. Yao briefly glanced away to see how close he was getting to the chairs, before he finally bumped into one and sat right down.
"Don't move from that spot," Natalya quietly ordered.
Yao nodded at the order before she broke eye contact and turned away. The tall strange figure stood directly behind her now at the altar, where Natalya raised her voice to address the crowd.
"Hello everyone. I must say I am disappointed to see the shock on all your faces. You should've known that, by supporting Erzsébet instead of me, you all had this coming."
They suddenly heard some thuds from outside, prompting Yao and the courtiers to look at the tent's entrance. Standing there were five of the dwarfs, who had just knocked out the guards that were patrolling the gardens.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the one in the center announced, "This is a stick-up!"
"Hand over your gold!" a dwarf to the right commanded.
"And your clothes too!" a dwarf to the left added.
"Did he just say clothes?" Yao heard Roderich mutter to his neighbours.
"No, this is not happening again," Prince Ludwig defied, stepping towards Princess Natalya with a firm disposition that Yao had not seen from him in days, "You are not -"
Before he could finish his sentence, the tall strange man whacked the Prince in the head with a wine goblet. As Ludwig collapsed to the ground, the strange figure opened their cloak to reveal the two missing dwarfs inside, one of them standing on the other's shoulders. They immediately pinned Prince Ludwig to the ground, punched him in the face to knock him out, then pulled out rope and tied up the Prince's limbs. As they did so, Natalya pointed her sword at the unconscious Prince and spoke to the courtiers again.
"We're also taking him."
From her perch alongside the window, Naktakė peeked through into the room on the top floor of the palace. Inside, maids were fussing around a woman who matched Tolys's description of what Arthur said the Queen would look like.
The woman's hair had been gathered behind her head, all tied together in place with a design that looked like intertwining ropes, and they had stuck shiny rocks into it. She wore green rocks around her neck and off of her ears, which didn't make sense to Naktakė as that would require poking holes through her ears to make the rocks hang there. And then there was the dress, which was huge and covered in white feathers.
Naktakė heard a caw, and glanced over to watch as Lilli flew in and landed beside her on the railing.
"I just saw Tolys and his group entering the building," Lilli reported, "You were right, they did split up. There's another woman with them now, I don't know who she is."
"I think I found Queen Erzsébet," Naktakė described, nodding at the people in the room, "Do you know why humans would want to dress like they're birds?"
"That is definitely Erzsei in there," Lilli answered as she also looked in the room, "I've seen her wear some nice dresses before, and that blue dress Lenka wore to the ball at Inasdiff is still stashed away at Virside. But no, I've never seen a dress like this one."
The two birds stayed perched there for a couple more moments, before they observed the sudden exodus of the room, with the maids standing aside as the Queen marched forward and left the room.
"She must be ready for the wedding," Lilli guessed, "We might have run out of time."
"We should check the party tent one more time," Naktakė planned, "Then we need to find Tolys."
The birds leaped from their railing and took flight, soaring through the air above the castle grounds. They circled around the spires towards the back of the building, then soared down above the gardens towards the party tent. As they got closer, Naktakė noticed that something was different.
Well, a few things, actually. The multiple guards who had been patrolling the gardens and party tent had all been knocked to the ground somehow, only a few of them trying to sit up. The party tent was still there, but the flaps at the front had been lowered to close the entrance.
"What happened here?" Lilli asked, "It's only been about five minutes since I last flew by."
Naktakė looked closely as she flew above the party tent, preparing to swerve left to turn around. As she saw the back of the tent and what lay beyond, a bright pile of colours caught her attention, making her change her path and swerve right instead to look closer.
By the back gate to the palace grounds, there was a wagon with two horses. A woman with platinum blonde hair and seven small men were running around, throwing brightly coloured fabrics onto the wagon.
"Lilli, come here," Naktakė called out, "I think I found our princess and dwarfs!"
Naktakė continued to circle around above the wagon while waiting for Lilli to join her. The woman and the dwarfs had almost finished putting everything onto the wagon, and a couple dwarfs were just grabbing the last items. When the last piece of fabric was lifted, Naktakė finally saw what the pile of fabrics had been hiding.
A tall blond man was laying there unconscious on the ground, his legs tied together and his arms bound behind his back.
"That must be Prince Ludwig," Lilli figured out, "Princess Natalya and the dwarfs are abducting the Prince!"
"Why all the clothes though?" Naktakė questioned, "What do they need all that for?"
The birds continued to circle overhead as Natalya and the dwarfs picked up the unconscious Prince, and heaved him onto the wagon. Once they had him in place, the dwarfs piled into the back of the wagon themselves, while Natalya went to the driver's spot at the front.
"They're heading back into the forest," Lilli determined, "Can we follow them?"
"We still need to report to Tolys, he needs to know this happened," Naktakė reminded, "At least one of us needs to stay behind."
"I'll follow them into the forest," Lilli decided, "Once you've told Tolys about this, you can lead a group of them in there after us and track me down."
As Natalya used the reins to make the horses move the cart, Lilli turned in their direction to follow from their air. Naktakė briefly watched them all take their leave, before heading back towards the palace.
She needed to find Tolys now, as quickly as possible.