A/N Sorry I'm taking so long guys. I'm working on several other projects at the same time. I wanted to give the assassin some more back story, I will bounce back to his beginnings after this chapter. Feedback is encouraged. Thanks.
The passage went quickly and slowly at the same time. Sea voyages had a way of warping time like that. The assassin kept mostly to himself. But it would look strange if he didn't mingle and socialize with the other passengers somewhat. Traveling merchants spent a lot of time and energy cultivating new contacts and business partners. One never knew when a friendship could prove lucrative. On a few occasions he played cards with the other passengers to pass the time. The assassin was an accomplished card player. Reading body language as a fighter served him just as readily in cards as in combat. In fact, it was much easier. In cards, your rival is usually just trying to take your money, not your life. He made sure not to win too much or too little. No need to make others resent him and give cause to remember him more than they should. The other passengers and crew gossiped, told outrageous lies about women, tales of things they had done or seen. He had accumulated a wealth of knowledge in his travels and adventures and could speak on dozens of topics intelligently. More importantly, he had developed listening and drawing out answers from others into an art form. One never knew when some minor tidbit of information would prove to be critical. The assassin absorbed it all like a sponge.
Apparently the Queen of Arendelle was a magic wielder. She had been born with the power and had concealed it successfully growing up. That's why she had been sequestered from a young age. Apparently she never learned to control it well and it all unraveled at her coronation reception ball.
In the aftermath of the ball, a young prince from the Southern Isles tried to usurp the throne. From the tales he had gleaned, Anna, the Crown Princess, had heroically given her life to save her sister the Queen. She was restored to life by the love of her sister through magical means. The details were fuzzy, everyone had different versions of what had occurred. The truth was somewhere in the middle the assassin mused, it usually was.
It seems the Prince had been engaged to the Crown Princess and tried to speed things along and kill the new Queen. "What a fool," he thought. All he had to to was wait, the Queen would have most likely abdicated, he would have gained the throne by his marriage to Crown Princess Anna. Like most royals he had encountered, his ego got in the way of his common sense. It seems his employer was involved in trying to assassinate the queen as well in another rather clumsy plot at the same time. The Queen had broken all ties to Weselton as a result. They were lucky that Queen Elsa was so young and inexperienced. A more seasoned monarch would have gone to war over such a threat. If the Queen's powers were to be believed, she could have destroyed Weselton easily.
The Queen is rather interesting he thought. She had the right to execute the Prince for his crimes and the Duke as well, but she hadn't. The prince was sent packing under guard to his homeland to await judgment. The Assassin had learned that Queen Elsa had sent a packet ship to the Southern Isles with a personal eyes only letter to their ruler, King Andrew. No one knew exactly what it contained, save the two monarchs. The rumor was that Queen Elsa asked his father to have mercy on his son. She had forgiven his rash actions and asked for clemency, that his life be spared. She knew that he could have been easily executed for his crimes. She didn't want to force King Andrew to make the horrible decision of executing his own child, and she didn't want his life to be on her conscience as well. What ever it said, it worked. The prince was stripped of his titles, but not his life. He was sentenced to internal exile.
The Duke was barred from court while his King figured out what to do with him. The Duke had enormous financial leverage, which was the only reason he hadn't been imprisoned or executed yet. He still had a lot of power despite what had happened and the loss of revenue while painful, hadn't crippled him financially yet.
The assassin didn't know if Queen Elsa was merciful, naïve, or just ignorant about politics. If not any of that, she was so powerful she didn't worry about what she considered minor threats. He suspected it was a mixture of all of them. Either way it was a difficult challenge, even to someone with his skills.
Overt force would probably not work. Aside from Queen Elsa's own powers, the Arendelle Royal Navy, or ARN, as it was more commonly called, had to considered. While small, it was well trained, well equipped, and most importantly, well led. Admiral Gustaff, it's commander, was the cousin of the former king. He was fiercely loyal to the crown, and made sure that the ARN was as well. He had acted as one of the queen's regent advisers before she assumed formal control of the kingdom. The ARN was highly respected in the region for maintaining safe shipping lanes and keeping the peace. Their Royal Marines were a force to be reckoned with as well. Their fearsome reputation as highly disciplined and ferocious fighters in combat was well deserved. To make matters worse, Arendelle was strategically placed defensively. Treacherous currents and a nasty approach to her capital made it folly to attack from seaward unless you had over whelming force at your disposal. And that wasn't even considering the queens powers. From the landward side it was even more challenging. The mountains made it near impossible to maneuver. A few key passes could be held with minimal forces against much greater numbers. Even though the kingdom was rich in resources, it was a tough nut to crack, and so few had tried in it's long history.
All those thoughts flowed through his mind like a swirling stream. The assassin was on deck smoking his pipe and enjoying the cool night air. It was good place to think. Except for the evening watch, most of the crew were in their hammocks sleeping. The other three passengers were playing cards with the ships Captain is his quarters. Sneaky and subtle was to key he thought. As in most things, if you did what no one expected, you could get away with quite a bit. A plan started to form in his mind. "We dock in Arendelle in the morning," he thought. I'll do some local reconnaissance, and finalize the details in a few more days.