The Lord and Lady in the White Tower
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own none of this. No, really. Rating: K Time: This is a sequel to the Lady in the White Tower and begins some months after that story ended.
"Are you ready?" Kate asked.
"Not yet. I have three of your redheaded minions adjusting my scarf right now." Lord Castle replied.
"No one will be looking at Lord Castle for once, ladies. I'm sure he's fine."
Castle walked out of their bedroom in the White Tower in Aurum. He was dressed in Imperial style finery. He had patent leather shoes, tight black breeches, a golden, silk sash with a sword belt over it. He had both his old metal sword and dagger on the belt. He had a snowy white lace shirt and a brilliant red hip length jacket. He wore no hat, but he was freshly shaved by Alana and smelled of cologne.
"I feel overdressed." He said.
"Nonsense. This is for Princess Arran's wedding. And you look magnificent."
"As you do, Kate. As you always do,"
So as to not upstage the bride, Kate was not wearing her usual white gown, but a gown of pale blue. In fact, Princess Arran wore a white gown of Kate's that had been altered for her.
Rick and Kate, and Kate's redheaded ladies walked out of the tower to find a coach waiting for them and an escort of Lord Castle's Companions on their horses. The Companions were unarmored, but all carried their swords.
Ensign Esposito, who carried the Norren Heavy Cavalry Regiment's banner, saluted Lord and Lady Castle.
"We're ready, My Lord and Lady."
The Castles entered the carriage and everyone headed off to the cathedral.
Bishop Ryan met them at the entrance to the cathedral. He was quite worried.
"I do hope everything goes well." He said. "
"You've married plenty of couples before this." Rick said.
"But never a member of the nobility. I wish the organ had been fixed. It adds something to a wedding, you know."
"I'm sure the replacement orchestra will be fine."
Bishop Ryan just looked grim.
The cathedral's organ had rotted away in the long years since the abandonment of Aurum and no one really knew how to fix it. Luckily, there were musicians in Castle's army. The songs they normally played were highly pornographic and not at all suitable for a young Princess to hear. However, they found that Fat Brigid had a lovely soprano voice. She also had a large, hardwood rolling pin that she had used on a few of the musicians who'd tried to add some music from The Landlord's Daughters to the program.
Lady Kate excused herself and walked to the front of the altar where the other bridesmaids and matrons were waiting. There she joined Duchess Ann, and Lady Jen. Lady Jen had been Miss Jen and the governess of Duke Ranald II, however she had been promoted to lady in waiting as it was felt Princess Arran needed at least one.
Sir Karl Lowe stood on the other side of the bridesmaids with his best man, Sandrall.
"I'm here, Lord Castle." Said a voice from behind him.
He turned to see Princess Arran. She wore no jewelry, only Kate's gown and a lace veil. She had said that the only jewelry she needed was a ring from Sir Karl.
Castle smiled down at her. She was indeed beautiful. Karl was a very lucky man as she was not just beautiful, but intelligent, well-educated and brave.
"Karl is a lucky man, Your Highness."
"And I'm a lucky woman. Or girl." Arran said. "I do love Karl as much as he loves me. I know our marriage was arranged between our families, but we do love each other."
"I know how lucky you are, Your Highness, as I'm quite lucky that way myself."
"Lord Castle, I must thank you for all that you've done for me. I swear to you, here in the cathedral and before God, that I will be faithful to you and to Emperor Paulus and his successors. This I swear."
As Castle nodded, the orchestra began the very, very old wedding march that some said had come from long vanished and fabled Earth itself.
Castle offered her his arm.
"May I escort you to your wedding, Your Highness?"
"You may, Lord Castle."
The wedding was a success and Prince Karl, as he now was, settled down with Princess Arran.
Farmers and ranchers moved out of the city and began the spring planting. The soil was fertile and the spring rains were neither too much nor too little. Lord Castle hoped that by harvest time, in the fall, there would be plenty of food for all, and no enemy army to ruin things.
Admiral Deese had also been busy getting the shipyard repaired. There were fine stands of timber just south of Aurum and he sent men to cut the trees and cut them into lumber to make more ships. He built more than a dozen large fishing boats that were sold to fishermen among the population. The fishermen found there were rich fishing grounds off of the Golden Coast as the old books and maps had foretold.
Deese also built more caravels to further explore the lands beyond the Golden Coast.
"Lord Castle," he said, "I will now be sending the bulk of the fleet back to the Great Inner Sea as Emperor Paulus has ordered. However, now that the city is fortified properly, the crops are planted, the fishing fleet in action, I wish to sail south and explore the coast. In addition, the old maps that Princess Arran has shows there is an island chain some six hundred miles almost due west. I wish to send a small expedition there as well."
"I would like to accompany you, Admiral." Castle said. "We have heard of the army of another Nikodimas the Slaughterer from our friends, Rien and his family, but they know little of any consequence. There are said to be great trading cities further south. If there is a dangerous enemy out there, they'll know more."
"You are of course, most welcome, Lord Castle."
But, while Castle was making ready for his voyage of discovery, other plots were developing.
They called him Ill Will. As just plain Will, he'd been a soldier in the army of Emperor Paulus. He had been a good and brave fighter and fine comrade. He'd happily buy a round at the tavern when it was his turn and the tavern wenches always found him passionate and free with his money.
But while fighting against the Eastern Barbarians, he'd been hit in his right knee with two arrows. The doctors had saved his leg from being amputated, but the knee joint was locked in place. Will was given a pension as he could no longer be a soldier.
He found a small room in a shabby inn in the Capitol and spent his days drinking. As with many men whose happy lives had been changed for the worse, the drinking made him morose, and he began to feel he had been ill used by the Empire.
"Ten years I fought the Emperor's battles." He mumbled into his cheap wine. "How many of his foes did I kill, I ask you? Many, many. And what do I have to show for it? Twelve silver coins per month. The youngest recruit who does no more than stand with his spear and shield at the city gates earns more than that. Good Will, they called me. Brave Will. Happy Will. And now? No one talks to me at all."
Will snarled at the barmaid to bring him more wine.
However, someone did hear Will and spoke to him. He wore a hooded robe so that none could see his face there in the dark in the back of the inn's taproom. From his accent and words, Will thought him to be the servant of some noble. And he made Will a proposition. With the proposition he held out a bag of gold coins with the promise of more. Much more.
The proposition was simple. Will would be offered a job with the entourage of Duchess Ann, the man said his employer could see to that. Then all Will had to do was wait a while and then one dark night, slip into the bedroom of a young boy, slit his throat and then go about his business. Once back in the Capitol Will would be richly rewarded.
Will used his injured leg to his advantage in plotting. He claimed that his leg ached when it was too hot. It ached when it was too cold. It ached when the wind blew and it ached when there was no wind. And so Ill Will was often seen around the castle where Duchess Ann and young Ranald II lived, trying to get comfortable. After a while, no one thought it unusual to find Will at various places in the palace at all hours of the night, complaining of his injured knee.
Will soon found a problem. A large, furry and very ferocious problem that slept by young Ranald's bed each night. Will wouldn't have attacked Lotus with a dozen of his old friends back when he was a soldier and to do so by himself would have been suicide. However, whoever had hired Will expected results. And if no results were forthcoming, eventually another assassin would come from the Empire and he would kill both Ranald and Will.
Finally, Will believed he had the solution to his problem. The kitchen pantry had been overrun by mice and rats. The head cook had mixed up a paste containing arsenic to kill the rats. He had been very careful to tell everyone in the kitchen and those that occasionally wandered in, such as Will, what to avoid. Armed with that knowledge, Will was able to bit by bit steal quite a bit of arsenic.
One dark night, Will also stole a large steak from the kitchen and dosed it with the poison. Then he crept through the palace, avoiding the guards and the few servants still awake and arrived at Ranald's door. He quietly opened the door and looked in. There was Ranald and there by his bed was Lotus. He carefully tossed his poisoned treat towards Lotus and quickly closed the door.
He waited in the shadows until he was sure Lotus had eaten her fill. He opened the door and looked in. Ranald was asleep and Lotus was now closer to the door. The steak was nowhere to be seen.
Smiling, Will drew his knife and walked to Ranald.
"Stupid human." Said a voice from behind him. Then his neck was broken like a dry twig.
Lotus let out a roar and then ran to Ranald, who was quite upset at being so awakened. A dozen guards rushed to the bedroom and opened the door. There was Ranald, cowering behind Lotus. On the floor was the dead body of Will, knife still in his hand. By the bed was the poisoned steak, carefully moved there by Lotus.
Duchess Ann and Sandrall were soon on the scene, followed shortly by Lord Castle and Lady Kate.
"Obviously, this man came to kill Ranald and was stopped by Lotus." Sandrall said. Everyone agreed.
"Search his quarters." Ann ordered," and find out if anyone was particularly friendly with him."
A thorough search of Will's quarters turned up a bag of gold coins.
"Far too much for someone of his station." Sandrall said, examining the bag. "He was a paid assassin."
Ill Will was not a man who made many friends, and no one was found that could have been an accomplice, as indeed there was no one.
Ann now placed guards at Ranald's door at night and detailed some of Sandrall's troops to be with the young duke at all times. One assassin missed, but there would probably be others.
In the White Tower, Rick and Kate spoke with Lotus.
"Couldn't you have kept him alive?" Rick asked.
"We don't want anyone to know that my race is intelligent and not a bunch of wild animals. I behaved as a good wild animal should."
"Alive he would have told us nothing." Kate said. "His kind are hired anonymously. He would have told us of some man in a dark room, or one who sat behind a curtain, or something else. And whoever that was would not have been the one who ordered the assassination. Those people never get their hands dirty like that. You did well, Lotus."
Lotus smiled.
TBC