I hadn't been expecting so many reviews! Thank you, guys!I apologize for any typos in here. My spellcheck sucks, it's one in the morning, and I really wanted to post this. I'll look over it in a bit.Also, expect updates once every two weeks or so. I have an insane schedule for the next month and I honestly don't know if I'll have any time to write.Anyways, enjoy!
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"Would you be willing to tell us of Clonmel's loyalty to you?" Alyss had asked slowly, eyeing King Sean with concern. He didn't seem to like most of the nobles that she had mentioned thus far, and after all, it seemed as if they were all rather lazy to begin with. None of them were here, which negated the usual protocol for a meeting such as this.
He smiled wanly at the question. "It's better than it was five years ago, but I'm afraid that the situation is still rather bleak."
Will had looked sympathetic as he leaned forward to speak. "You inherited a mess of a kingdom, I'm afraid."
"Yes, I did," the king had replied. "Loyalties are all over the place here. I've been trying to fix it all, but I don't have as much power as I'd like." He looked over at his petite daughter, who was only partially paying attention. "It'll be worse for her. No one wants a girl on the throne."
The Princess snapped back into the present, smiling a little herself, but it didn't reach her eyes. "They all want the throne. I'm just an inconvienence."
Princess Aideen's words echoed in Will's mind as he and Alyss were escorted to their rooms. The plan had originally been to arrive in Clonmel, have the meeting, and skedaddle back to Araulen, but the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the duo didn't really want to ride to their ship in the rain.
The halls here were dim and rather drab, given the weather and the overall vibe of the place. Will couldn't imagine Halt living here. He associated his mentor with sunny days spent in the woods- they conflicted with the man's personality, but no one could disagree with Will's logic.
"They really went wild with the design here, didn't they?" Alyss asked dryly. "That green really doesn't flow with the rest of the design here." Green banners with golden outlines of a dog chasing a stag were placed evenly on the stone walls, and were the only actual colors in the immediate area. The guard that was escorting them snorted.
"It's been the same since this place was made."
"They certainly don't look new," Will said quietly. Dun Kilty was a proud-looking castle, for sure, with its intimidating walls and spires that rose above the city around it. But there were signs of decay and neglect inside. The banners were slightly faded and patched, the guard's and sentry's armor that Will had seen thus far was dull and occasionally rusted. The people themselves looked at he and Alyss with a cautious distrust, more than aware that they were Arauleners. Hell, Will thought, the castle's occupants seemed to eye each other with suspicion. The castle was divided. The entire province was, probably. Will knew that the distrust that was pointed towards Alyss and himself was because of the rumors of war, but what was causing problems amongst Clonmel herself?
There was a crash that sounded suspiciously like a platter falling, down a hall that the trio was passing. Then a shout of surprise.
"Oi! Get back here, girl!" Someone shouted. A door swung open to reveal a curly-haired brunette that was wearing boy clothes. Funny, Will thought. She'd just been wearing a dress.
Princes Aideen was beaming as she escaped the castle kitchens, a loaf of bread in her hands. Why would a princess be stealing food?
"I'm puttin' it to good use, chef! Thank ya!"
"Every fourday, girl!" A voice roared seconds before its owner appeared. The chef was a tall man, though none too thin, with stark red hair and an equally red face. He waved a frying pan in his hand. It looked considerably more dangerous than Chubb's little wooden spoon, Will thought.
The girl waved a hand (a bandaged one. Why was her left hand bandaged?) as she ran down the hall.
"I'm never letting you into the kitchens again, girl!"
"You say that every time!" She skidded around a corner, The chef stood there for a moment, staring at the place where the girl had been, then shook his head and went back into the kitchens. Will could have sworn that the man was smiling.
Shaking his head with a bit of a grin himself, he continued walking.
Their escort smiled sadly. "She's a kind girl, that one. The bread is for one of her sentry friends." He shook his head. "The boy's sustaining his entire family. There's five of them in all, I believe."
"He's too poor to support them," Will stated. The man nodded.
"He'll run himself to the ground before he admits it. But she sees it."
"Will she make a good queen, do you think?" Alyss asked.
"Oh, she'll be the best ruler we've had in a while." Then his face darkened. "If she isn't killed before it. She's barely escaped several assassinations in the past month."
Will and Alyss looked at each other, concern etched across their faces. Both of them wanted to ask questions, but neither of them really thought that it would be tactful to do so. Several people from the castle staff were bustling past, and both Arauleners knew how talkative they could be.
The guard suddenly stopped and motioned towards two doors. "Here's your rooms, sir and miss," he said. "Safe travels."
"I hope you have a dry night," Alyss said sympathetically. He smiled wanly.
"As do I." And with that, he was gone.
-
Aideen's eyes shot open. Something had woken her, she was sure, but what?
The teen pulled her saxe knife out from under her pillow and sat up, scanning the room carefully. It was nearly pitch black, and rain was pounding against the stone castle walls. She realized that her window was open and rain was getting into her room, then relaxed. That was what had woken her. She rolled off her bed and padded towards the window.
To Aideen's surprise- and confusion- a spear lay on the floor by the window. She didn't use a spear, so...
Grabbing her knife again, she cautiously peered down to the battlements below. A lone figure stood there, a sentry, waving his arms frantically. She frowned in confusion. What was going on?
Then there was a shout outside her room, the hiss of a guard's sword leaving his scabbard, then the ugly cracking sound of a crossbow releasing a bolt.
There was no explanation for this, aside from an assassination attempt. Aideen cursed under her breath and bolted to the weapon cabin on the side of the room. She estimated that she had at least a minute. Her door was locked from the inside and heavily reinforced with steel, so they'd have to break it down.
The girl threw on her most prized piece of weaponry: a heavily knife laden leather strap that crossed across her chest. It held twenty throwing knives and a light short sword, and it had already saved her life once. On a whim she took a small shield as well. It would help if that crossbow was shot at her.
The door rattled loudly. She cursed.
Aideen took a deep breath and situated herself in the middle of the room, two throwing knives in her hands. She tried to still the shaking to no avail.
Then, to her own surprise, she smiled grimly into the dark. She'd never feared death, not really. Hopefully her attackers didn't either, because they were in for a rude surprise.
They weren't expecting her to put up a fight.
Hopefully.
Aideen winced as the door shook again, even though it held its own. She suddenly realized that she had no idea how many men were out there, and how many of them were skilled fighters. The fifteen year old understood her own limitations, and while they were surprisingly small for such a young woman, they were there.
Aideen ran to the side of her room and began pushing her wardrobe towards the door with all of her strength. This was no time to be a hero.
-
Will awoke out of a light sleep to the sound of his apartment door handle rattling, and the loud voices outside. Much like Aideen, he pulled his saxe knife out from under his pillow before doing anything else, then walked to his bedroom door. He and Alyss had decided to sleep in seperate rooms since this was a professional mission and they had no wish to draw attention to themselves.
The door handle rattled again and he frowned. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good. But what did anyone in Clonmel want with him? It wasn't as if he'd done anything. Even if he had he surely wouldn't be woken in the middle of the night, would he?
The door suddenly shook as someone outside slammed his shoulder into it. He was under attack.
Will resisted the urge to scoff. It wasn't out of amusement, since he was rather certain of his abilities to take down his attackers. It was more out of nervous confusion. He ran a hand through his sleep-mussed hair and walked to the door.
"You know, it's raher rude to break someone's door down in the middle of the night," he deadpanned. Will was doing this simply to hear what they said in response in hopes that they'd tell him their business before trying to kill him.
"You're under arrest!" a man shouted. "Open the door!"
That took the young Ranger by surprise. "For what?" He asked incrediously, spreading out his arms as if they'd see the gesture.
"You killed Princess Aideen!" Was the furious reply. Several voices yelled in agreement.
Will actually took a pace back, both from surprise and understanding. He was being framed for an assassination, he was sure of it.
Aideen was dead. He'd known her for all of five hours, but it still shocked him. Anger surged through him. She'd been killed simply because she was an obstacle.
He had to find a way out of this.
"I... I'm sorry," he stammered, "how was she killed?"
"She was shot, you idiot!" Was the angry reply. Will remembered with a jolt that he'd left his bow on the ship since he wouldn't have been allowed to bring it into the castle.
"I don't have my bow." He had to think fast. What could he do?
"Open up!" The door shook violently.
"Langley!" Will blurted. "There's a guard named Langley here! He escorted me to my room, he can tell you that I didn't have a bow!"
There was a silence from the other side. To Will's surprise, a familiar voice answered him.
"Aye, you didn't," Langley said slowly.
"That's not the point!" The first man said angrily. "It doesn't matter! We were told to kill him!"
"Well, I tried," Will said to himself. He deftly hacked a leg off of a chair with his saxe so he could at least have some form of shield. It was more of a cricket bat, really, but he'd once seen Evanlyn do some serious damage with one of those.
-
Aideen had never packed a bag so quickly in her life. The girl unbuckled her trustworthy leather hunting bag and unceremoniously stuffed in a week's worth of riding clothes. She also threw in a short sword, two cloaks, an extra pair of boots, and a small bag of money that she kept in her weapon cabinet in case of an emergency.
The door rattled again and this time, something cracked.
"Not yet," she half-grumbled, half-begged.
Aideen threw on a pair of pants and hiked her nightdress up to her waist with the help of her belt, then she tossed a quiver of arrows and her yew bow over her shoulders.
"Now I just have to get down," she muttered, glancing at her window. The rocks would be too slippery and dangerous to climb down.
Another slam. Another crack. She shifted nervously, looking around the room for something, anything that would help her.
Her eyes fell on a forgotten coil of rope that was tucked behind her weapon cabinet. She estimated that it'd reach a good way down the tower, and it wasn't as if she had much of a choice.
She tied the rope to her bedpost, then threw the coil out of the window. She knew that if her attackers broke into her room before she could make it to the walkway, they could cut the rope on her, but it was a risk that she had to take. Dropping to her death would be less messy than a crossbow bolt to the neck anyway.
Another bang. Judging by the sound, the door had given way.
She had no time left.
Aideen stuck her head out of the window to the walkway below. Davin stood there, spearless and looking utterly terrified. She dropped her bag out of the window and moved to swing out of the window herself, then hissed in annoyance. She was going to get rope burn on her hands unless she went to the wardrobe and got some gloves. She did so quickly, even as the wardrobe shuddered as the men outside began pushing on it. She pulled out two knives and jammed them between the wardrobe legs and the floor as an impromptu doorstopper, grabbed her gloves, and ran for her life.
She moved down the rope in leaps, focusing on Davin's shouts of encouragement below. Aideen could feel the heat of the rope through her gloves as it slid through her hands, but she ignored it. The rain pounded against her. She was already soaking wet, and she hadn't been outside for a minute.
"Come on, Aideen!" Davin shouted frantically.
Fifteen meters, twelve meters...
A faint vibration moved through the rope. Aideen's heart skipped a beat. She knew what that meant. She glanced up to see two heads poking out of her window.
"Davin!" She choked out, her voice cracking with fear. The rope would snap at any second, she knew.
Nine meters, seven meters...
"I've got you!" The young sentry yelled.
The rope snapped. Aideen screamed as she fell, limbs flailing, but Davin was true to his word. He caught her and promptly fell over, but he did it.
Aideen saw one man move slighly, and she knew exactly what it meant. She scrabbled for her bag and threw it over both of them just in time as the crossbow bolt buried itself in the leather, right where her heart had been. The tip of the bolt actually came out of the other side and drew a little bit of blood from Aideen, but the injury was nowhere near fatal.
Then, wordlessly, the duo scrambled to their feet and ran, the rain quickly shielding them from view.
-
Will was completly at a loss. He was cornered in a room with god knows how many men outside of the door. And they were here to-
"What the hell are you all doing?" An indignant voice shouted from the hallway. Will released a pent up breath. Alyss.
"Ma'am, he killed the princess," the leader of the group said.
Alyss laughed mockingly. "And when was this?"
"About two hours ago, ma'am-"
"I know exactly where my husband was two hours ago, and he certainly wasn't off with the princess!" She said angrily.
Oh, god bless this woman. No one would want argue with her when she was implicating that sort of thing.
"Ma'am-"
"Do you know who he is?" Alyss asked haughtily. Oh, the trump card.
"Well, no, but-"
"Why would Will Treaty run around killing teenage girls!?" She said.
A hush fell. Even in Hibernia, people knew who Will was. After a moment, the man spoke again. "Do you have proof that he's Will Treaty?"
"Yes." There was a brief silence. "Inside my ring, our last names are inscribed. Can you read?"
"I can," a new voice said quietly.
"Here."
Another brief silence. Will held his breath.
"That says Treaty, all right."
"But how do we know that he's your husband?" The leader asked.
Will spoke. "I'll come out and show you my ring, if I have your word that you won't kill me."
"Come on ahead," He replied. Cautiously, Will opened the door and stepped out, eyeing the attackers warily. Five guards stood there, eyeing him as well. He pulled the ring off of his necklace and held it out. The man that could read, presumably, took it and read the inscription inside. He nodded and faced the leader of the group, a stout man with a thick beard, and nodded.
He looked at Will with cold eyes. "I'd get out of here if I was you."
The couple took the hint quickly.