Chapter 57 - Hunting Daniel, Watching Varian
Now here I am with another chapter. I really struggled with the beginning of this chapter, cause hunting scenes aren't really something I do allot. So in a way, I had planned for this to be a bit more detailed, but I just failed, so this is how it became.
And yes, more Varian on the way here! And another treat for those interested *evil smirk*
«Are you ready, lads?» Annabelle whispered.
Pete and Stan were standing opposed to eachother near a doorframe.
«Yes, Ma… Miss!» Stan corrected himself in time before he called her Ma'am again.
«All set!» Pete repleid whispering.
«Good! I'll lure him out. Now remember to get his right; we only have one chance to catch him.»
«But why are you so certain this will work, Miss?» Stan asked whispering.
«Because he sincerely hates me; he will not let a chance like this pass him!»
Annabelle walked past the frame where the guards stood hid and walked a bit before she started talking.
«Now, why did you drag me out in this rotten hole, lads? I can't believe you talked me into looking for Jonas here! Lads?» Her voice became allot more fragile and helpless. «Lads? Where are you? Where did those idiots go? How am I supposed to find myself out of here?» she sounded rather overdramatic at sudden. «It's so dusty and dirty here, and who knows what there is here…» she made a loud overreacted gasp. «What was that…? AAAAAAHHHHH!»
Both guards got rather startled when they heard her loud cry, but they kept out of sight and quiet like she had ordered.
«AAAAAH! IT'S A SPIDER! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF! HELP MEEEEE!» Pete and Stan peeked and saw Annabelle come running, holding up her dress like hysterical, an rushed past them. The next moment they saw the figure of a child running after her. The young boy was holding out a long stick with a duster with dusky feathers tied at the end. As soon as he had passed them, the two guards looked at eachother, nodding equally, knowing their que.
Daniel ran after her, barely able to hold his laughter back, eagerly chasing his screaming cousin with the feathers. So he was caught quite off guard when Annabelle suddenly stopped and swung around, facing him and practically blocking the passage with her dress held out in both hands.
«Having fun, are we?» she looked down on him with a determinant gaze.
The young red haired prince suddenly panicked and turned around to flee. However, he didn't get far, as there was a surprise waiting for him; in the shape of the white sheet he had been playing with earlier.
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«So… what you're saying is that my… body sort of just... reacted on it's own?» Varians at up in his bed leaned back on pillows, his legs crossed under the blanket and his hands gesticulating while he spoke as if it would help him get a better understanding of the situation. Ruddiger sat by his side and snuggled himself into the hook of his master's arm, but Varian barely noticed the raccoon's presence at the moment.
«You see, my friend…» Phineas sat by the edge of the bed, looking completley calm as he replied. «The body and the mind normally works in harmony. The body is like a string puppet, and the mind is controlling it. The mind gives a command, and the body reacts. Like when you want to raise your arm, the mind tells the arm to rise and lower as it wants.» He raised his arm and lowered it as he spoke, demonstrating his description.
Varian nodded nervously. «Uh-huh?»
«But there are times when body and mind don't really cooperate, and there can be many reasons for this. Like a tangle on the strings of the puppet. Sometimes when the mind has been too much overwhelmed, it shuts down in order to sort things out. So depending on the situation, that's when the body starts acting on it's own. Most of the times when you feel the earge to, let's say cry, it's because whatever happens has been too much for the mind to handle, and even though we try to avoid it, the body objects and reacts anyway.»
«I get that… » Varian started fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt, feeling uncomfortable and understandingly a bit embarrased. «But… it still doesn't make sence that I can't even recall it!»
«It's conected to the memory loss you have. Perhaps your mind realized that whatever it was, was to heavy to process, so it simply shut off and allowed the body to deal with it.»
«But how does any of this…» he interupted himself when he suddenly felt an irritation in his throat and started coughing. «I can't believe that…» another coughing fit interupted him again, and he begun sniffling as his nose suddenly started running. «What's… going on with me…?» he wiped his nose with a sleeve and kept coughing.
Ruddiger was quick and picked up the napkin Violet had been using to dry him off earlier and handed it to him.
«Thanks, pal…» Varian replied sniffling before he blew his nose with a loud hoot, then leaned back, looking rather exhausted at sudden, and still bit scruffy in his throat. Ruddiger gave a concerned croon and looked at the Physician's direction.
Phineas frowned in sudden concern and rose up and got closer. «Tell me, how are you feeling now? Is your throat sore? Do you feel a bit heavy in your head? Chill?»
Varian was still a bit sniffly when he replied. «I… I don't know. It's probably nothing. But… if you could please close the window, cause it's kind of… it's a little drafty in here.» he said and put his hands on his shoulders and rubbed them, suddenly starting to shiver.
Phineas arched an eyebrow. «All the windows are closed, Varian. There's no draft in here.»
«Oh?»Varian looked up and saw how he was right, although shuttered for unknown reasons. «That's funny, I… ah!» He got a bit surprised when the Physician suddenly placed his wrist on his forehead. He held it there a while before he removed it, getting an odd look on his face.
«Hm…»
«Hm what?» Varian asked.
«Your temperature has raised…» he removed his hand and grabbed a hold on Varian's wrist, putting two fingers across it and felt his pulse. Then he put his hand down and looked at him. «Would you mind leting me look at your tongue again?» he said with a light smile.
«Mmh'kay.» Vairan rolled his eyes of the odd examination and obayed, opening up his mouth and stuck his tongue out as far as he could. However Phineas didn't get time to examinate it, as Varian suddenly sneezed, startling Phineas so he almost jump back.
«Sorry… didn't mean that…» Varian said and hid his nose behind his huge sleve.
«Well…» Phineas chuckled and rose up again. «It doesn't take a tonge check to see what's going on with you.»
«What?» Varian looked up after wiping his nose. «What do you mean?»
«That you're catching something. Or perhaps you've already caught it.» Phineas smirked and headed for the door. «I've got something that might prevent the worst outcome, but it will eventually just have to pass naturally.» And by that he opened the door and left, closing it behind him.
Varian was left more confused than he was earlier, and looked at Ruddiger. «That guy, he… he-eh…» He quickly covered his nose with the napkin before suddenly sneezing again. Then he collapsed back on his pillows again, sudddenly feeling exhausted. «Oh my head…»
Ruddiger crooned softly and started to pat him gently on his shoulder with a paw to comfort him.
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«That's him. I would recognize him anywhere!»
By the window closest to the door, the Captain of the Guards and the maid Elfried stood and looked at the whole ordeal. But as the Physician headed for the door, the Captain gently grabbed Elfried's shoulder and pushed her down.
«Hide!»
Elfired was quick to kneel down. She waited till the Captein gave a sign that they should leave, and so they carefully went with their backs down to avoid getting caught. When they were away from the medic's eria, the Captain gave a slight chocked hiss when he straightened up again, not wanting the maid to see that he was in pain, so he took a deep breath before he turned around and faced her.
«There. Now you see for yourself.» the Captain said.
«I do…» the middle aged maid looked like she was lost in thoughts, confused and in shock.
«And… I hope you understand?»
For a moment she looked like she had seen a ghost, cause she started panting a bit. «I… I see why… things were done the way they were, but… What I don't understand is…» Then she looked up and face him, and it appeared that she wasn't certain at what she was looking at. When she spoke, she had her eyes fixed on his. «What is wrong with you?»
The Captain was thrown off the branch by the amount of anger in her voice. «Eh… What?»
«He is… he is just a child? Has the King really approoved this?»
«He was the one who ordered him arrested. And with good reason. He…»
«And you…» she shook her head, then looked at him again, this time there was anger in her eyes, and spite in her voice when she spoke. «You just followed his orders, like… like that loyal lapdog you are. The King's puppet; following His Majesty's every command without ever once thinking!»
Her harsh words caught him off guards and he found himself taking a couple of steps back. «Elfried… you're being unreasable now… that was a long time ago…»
«And you still haven't learned, have you?» she stepped closer, pushing him further back as she raised her voice. «You still haven't learned to think for yourself!»
As she raised her voice towards him, he felt how he found the situation rather innapropriate and silently drew a quick breath before he regained a bit of authrority and stopped. «Now hold on a minute!» He stepped closer to her. «Let's not forget that he, despite his young age, has done things that normally would result in immidiate hanging. He attacked the Princess, attacked the royal Castle, went to war against the Kingdom itself, kidnapped the Queen and almost had both her and my daughter crushed to death?»
Elfried gave a short, harsh laughter before she spat back, placing her hands on her hips. «And you really think she didn't have that coming for her sooner or later?»
The Captan frowned, his voice raising just enough to state his rank. «Her Majesty was completley innocent of this!»
She scowled at him behind her spectacles. «I wasn't talking about Her Majesty!»
Again, the Captain was beaten; the harshness in her words, the spite in her voice; not to mention how her eyes shot daggers right in his face. «Elfried… are you sure you sure not thinking with your emotions now? I know that you have reason to be angry at Cassandra, but…»
«I could ask you the same question!» she spat back. «If she was involved, are you really the right person to handle this? I can't believe how you dare!»
The hand came so fast that he failed to see it coming, but before he knew the word of it, she had given him a rather hard slap on his left cheek. Then she turned on her heel and started walking away.
The Captain suddenly panicked. He cursed himself for loosing controll over the situation like this. He watched her walk and started running after her. «Elfried! I can't let you tell this to anyone. This is matters reguarding the state. It's utterly important that no one get's to know this!» he feared that he might have been to harsh a moment and softened the tone in his voice. «Please Elfried, I'm begging you, don't…»
«What on earth do you take me for?» she swung around and gave him a dignified, but condecending look. «After so many years working in the Royal Castle, don't you think I know when to hold my tonge?!»
The Captain kept staring at her, out of words.
Elfried drew her breath to calm herself down, softening when she spoke again, but remained strict. «I can assure you that every detail of what you have told me today, will remain only between us. I know perfectly what kind of scandal and trouble this would cause, for everyone. I give you my solemn word…» she took two steps closer, looking straight up on him. «No one will know the truth of Varian! Your… state secret… remains with me!»
The Captain looked at her a moment, then took a silent breath and let out a sigh of relief. «Thank you! I… I trust you with this.»
«Hm!» She was about to turn away, but her eyes remained fixed on his. «That being said…I'm not at all impressed!»
And by that, she walked away. The Captain watched her go, and despite being relieved of the guarantee that she wouldn't break her promise, he was left with a rather sour feeling in his stomach that went all they way up to his throat. He could feel the warmth grow on the spot where she had hit him burn as if she had touched him with glowing iron.
By the time he got back to Romelus, he had lost quite allot of spirit. The horse looked at him as he entered the stables, neighing carefully with concern. The Captain gave a weak smile and stroke his mule.
«What a mess, Boy. One of us has stumped rather hard in the salad, and I had to clean up and make it look like no one has been there.» he said, leaning his elbows against the box.
«She hasn't spoken a single word to me in… eight years, if not longer, and… what on earth is she thinking of me right now?» He placed his heavy head in his hands as he moaned, and Romulus nuzzled his mule at his ear.
«I'm not sure I did the right thing here. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before someone started to ask questions, but…» he gave a heavy sigh. «Of all people… why did it have to be her?»