The king scoffed. "Magick?! How absurd!"
He burst out laughing.
Alfred chuckled himself. He had to agree. That did sound quite ridiculous. It probably wasn't worth much thought.
Lord Aleric, though, was not one to joke around. What if he was serious? He should probably look into getting Lord Aleric re-evaluated. It shouldn't be too hard. He was getting old.
"Anyway, dad, I have a few concerns to go over with you," said Alfred. The king slowed his laughing and calmed down enough to answer.
"Yes, Al? What might those be? The cook refused to make hamburgers again?"
"No," Alfred shrugged, "Alex is doing fine. Her food's a bit on the spicy side, but whatever. So, you know I can't wait to meet the queen. Without him around, I can't ascend to the thrown. My question is about the supposed marriage—"
"What about the marriage?"
"—which I still don't like the idea of—"
"Because you're an impudent brat."
"—and I don't even understand the point of—"
"You will."
"—and I was wondering if it would be strictly necessary to consummate it."
"...What?"
Alfred sighed and reluctantly continued.
"What if this guy's ugly? Or crazy? Or a giggler?! You know how much I hate gigglers!"
"I wish I didn't."
"Okay then. Still, do I have to?"
The King was dumbstruck. It was a toss-up between smacking Alfred and laughing at him. After a moment of thought, the King settled for just kicking him out instead, with a few choice words to mull over. Much to the prince's dismay, the words weren't very nice.
Alfred walked down the hall, sulking and trying to soothe his hurt ego. He cursed the wretched being who had the gall to suggest naming him Alfred Friedrich Jones out of all the awesome words that started with 'F'.
A group of three maids turned the corner. They were whispering furiously to each other. Upon seeing him, they immediately stopped and bowed deeply before heading off in the other direction. Alfred was usually not one to care too much about gossip, but he was strangely curious as to what they were talking about.
Quickly and quietly so that they wouldn't hear, Alfred rushed to their position on the opposite side of the hall and walked as if he was with them. It was times like this when he could properly appreciate the genius of the architects who designed this castle. They had lived some 6-700 years ago, yet they had the foresight and ahead of the curve thinking to suspect that someone might want to eavesdrop on people in the far future. As long as you're in the right place, echoes are as clear as day. Alfred barely had to do any shifting before the voices tuned in perfectly. He was probably the only person in the country who knew about this.
"They say he does magick."
"How foolish! I thought you knew better than to believe that!"
"You never know~ This world is a strange place."
"You dream too much to be any good."
"Oh, belt up!"
"Girls! Forget that. I heard he has eyes a deeper emerald than those in the crown jewels"
"How could they know that? I heard he was blindfolded."
"One of the soldiers who retrieved him said so."
"I heard he has the foulest language ever! He cursed at the porter for some comment he made."
"Really?!"
"Yes! He made him cry!"
Alfred snorted. The voices stopped. He turned his head towards the maids and caught the eye of one of them. She blushed and whispered something to the others and they hurried off silently.
Alfred cursed and continued on his way. He had forgotten that the echo thing wasn't like a one way mirror. At least he had found out something encouraging. News of his possible bride had already reached the servants. That meant the soldiers had to at least be at the outer gate. If he got to Yao's quarters in time, he might be able to catch him before he left to inspect the new hopeful.
Alfred broke into a sprint, speeding around corners and dodging the occasional servant, only stopping once to ogle at the rack on the visitor from Clubs—no, wait, Clover kingdom. He was back on his way, though, when he caught the glare from her creepy sister.
Alfred barely noticed the strain he was putting on his suit as he sped away. Finally, he made it to the Jack's chambers and he wasn't even a little winded.
The prince knocked hurriedly on the door. No one answered. He did it again—harder.
Still no response. Alfred was on his 4th knock when the door was ripped open by a very angry Jack. It seemed he had interrupted something; something important, judging by the threatening gestures.
Alfred waited for him to stop yelling in rapid Mandarin before asking his question. It took a surprisingly long time, but it happened.
"Just thought you should know that Arthur guy is here," he said. "Can I go meet him with you?"
Yao rolled his eyes, and he sighed as if he had heard this a thousand times before.
"You are not to meet the Queen until the ceremony. The answer will not change."
Alfred groaned in frustration.
"But why?! I just don't get it! What the hell is with all these stupid rules?! I'm practically the King already!"
A wave of sympathy rolled over Yao. He knew it must have been difficult for Alfred. The young Alpha hardly knew half of the secrets this kingdom held. However, he was aware that they existed. How very frustrating it must have been.
"You will find out soon."
Alfred's sky-blue eyes hardened. "Everyone always says that."
"You'd do well to listen."
They stared each other down, neither one willing to back off. Alfred opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a servant half running down the hall. They watched the boy approach. He seemed nervous as hell—the kid must have been new here.
The boy bowed when he reached them, and he turned to Yao.
"Excuse me, sir! I've been sent to inform you of Arthur Kirkland's arrival."
"Wonderful. Have Arthur taken to the sub-ter garden. First, though, would you mind escorting Alfred to his room?"
Something about the look Yao flashed him stopped him from protesting. The servant nodded then bowed again to Alfred.
"Please come with me, sir."
Alfred ignored him, choosing to address the Jack.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes."
He turned and walked away, thus leaving Yao in his place and making the servant rush after him.
The Jack waited until they were both gone from sight before going back to his room to gather his supplies. If Kaoru was telling the truth, he would need a few extra things.
A rolling feeling of dread coursed through Arthur's entire body. The fae had taught him of the Gallows—a place where the kingdom took criminals to die. At the moment, he sympathized with them greatly. He knew the fear of being walked to your death.
It crossed Arthur's mind that he could have been exaggerating a bit. He would have asked Matthew, but every time he tried to strike up a conversation, the other made some excuse to not talk to him. Arthur had no idea what he had done to make Matthew avoid him like this. He only approached him when he had to, and with no one to vent to, Arthur felt lost.
The party reached the crest of the hill. The once dim light had grown into a huge fortress. They had, maybe, ten minutes of walking until they reached the first gate. There were twelve in all.
The wall was nearly 4 meters in height, and the entrance was a large stone doorway with wrought iron gates. As they got closer to the gate, the details on the stone became clearer and clearer until they could all finally see the incredible work of art.
No matter how many times Matthew saw these carvings he was always delighted by them. The details mystified him when he was a child. He could make out that it was telling a story, but what it was, he did not know. The words and symbols carved into the stone were of some strange, foreign, language that was long since dead. He had gathered, by the scenes depicted, that it was of the ancient 'war'.
Of course, this 'war' was mostly just hogwash. They didn't even teach it in schools anymore. All he had for reference were the legends and tales told to him when Alfred was off learning to be King. He sometimes resented Alfred for being able to inherit the kingdom, but now he knew just how lucky he was.
Matthew felt Arthur shift on the horse. He had been doing that for the last hour. Matthew couldn't fathom just how anxious he was. He wanted to reassure the blond that everything would be fine, but even he knew that wasn't true. The man had broken the law, he had pretty much tortured the knight and if the story going around the soldiers that Arthur was chemically suppressing his nature was true... yeah.
Matthew shook his head slightly and sighed. He could only imagine what would happen if Arthur also turned out to be the Queen.
How would that work? Would all his transgressions be forgiven? Would he be executed and Alfred forced to wait another 16 years for a new Queen?
He would have to ask Gilbert after he told him about what Arthur said. Matthew had abandoned all thought of asking Lord Aleric once he witnessed the man thrashing around in the throes of his nightmares. An angry and terrified man could do a lot when justified.
Besides, if anybody knew what to do it would be Gilbert. Even if the man acted like a crazy, self-absorbed 13 year old drunkard most of the time, he had still learned quite a few things in his time.
It often surprised Matthew when Gilbert would bore into his soul with his ruby red eyes, shift his white hair out of his face and say something amazingly thoughtful. Gil would explain things.
Matthew was pulled out of his thoughts by the neighing of the horse. Without noticing, he and the party had passed the first gate and were venturing towards the second.
The area between the gates was gorgeous. Row upon row of different types of flowers greeted them. A small gazebo several yards away from them overlooked a pond, teeming with fish. The most dominant feature of the area, though, was the roses.
They were all blue.
A thick cloying smell wafted to Matthew's nostrils. It was the national flower of the Spades kingdom. They were a genetic impossibility, yet they grew naturally on Spades soil.
Matthew preferred the regular red roses to the blue ones. He had always been fond of the color red. Also, thought Matthew as he looked around the area, blue was a little too abundant in their kingdom.
Soon, they had passed through the second gate, then the third and then the fourth. Each successive one was different in some way than all the others.
They were forced to ride a boat across the moat that constituted the 5th ring. There was already a crew of servants to man the ship, waiting for them. On this particular crossing, Matthew had been forced to carry Arthur in his arms, and he could feel him shivering as if in the dead of winter.
The sixth ring inside the gate was a giant aviary. Exotic birds gave off strange sounda and scents. All of them had some blue feature in one form or another. It amazed the soldiers to no end. They had passed through the gates more times than they could count. All of them had served guard duty at some point or another.
Finally, they had crossed the final ring.
A young servant boy was waiting for them. He was one of Matthews old friends back when their stations in life didn't matter. If his memory served him correctly, the boy's name was Eduard, and he was a Beta.
"Lord Yao wishes for the boy to be taken to the sub-ter garden. The soldiers are to retire to the barracks."
Lord Aleric stepped off his horse to address the man.
"I presume the proper precautions have been taken for the boy's containment?"
The servant met the knight's gaze with the confidence of someone who was not in another class altogether.
"That has been deemed unnecessary."
The knight was taken aback by this response.
"Now see here! I ha—"
"Please take your concerns to the Jack for consideration."
The knight fell silent. He was appalled at the utter lack of precaution on the part of the castle. He had even written to the prince to warn them of the danger for Pete's sake! Aleric had half a mind to take his anger out on the servant, but in the end he figured he just couldn't be bothered to.
"Fine! Take him, but don't say I didn't warn you."
He turned to Matthew.
"Give them the boy."
In a flurry of motion, Matthew had lifted Arthur from the horse and stood him on his feet. He noticed they were in danger of buckling.
This is why you let a man walk when you're taking a four day journey.
The servant boy waved them forward as if he were bored.
Arthur went through all of this in a numb sort of disengagement. Even after the soldiers had been dismissed and he was blindly led into, from what he could tell, a very grand entrance, he still couldn't bring himself to care all that much.
All his anxiety had come to a peak on the boat ride, and he had apparently left it there... along with all his other feelings.
After several minutes of walking they had descended down into a hollow staircase. The temperature seemed to drop with every step they took. A noise like rushing water bounced off the walls around them and was amplified to the magnitude of a waterfall. A smell like everything Arthur had ever loved reached them. It was like an underground paradise. When they reached the bottom he could feel soft grass beneath his feet as he was led forward to the water he had heard earlier. It was less a rushing current now and more a small stream.
"You may leave him on the bench," said a calm voice from behind them.
Arthur could tell from Matthew's jump that it was a surprise to him too.
He was hurriedly led to a bench and gently pushed down upon it.
"The rest of you may leave."
There was a small amount of protest, but the Jack had made his command clear. Now it was only him and Arthur.
He walked forward so he was directly in front of him. Slowly, Yao untied the blindfold and took it off.
All that was needed was a quick check for emerald eyes and he was sure.
"You're the one I've been looking for."
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I know this one is a bit late. I'm hoping to get the next one up sooner, to balance it out.
The lovely SakuraMoriChan beta'd this. I'm sure you're all grateful. I certainly am~
Please read and review~