Yet a bit long chapter, but I can't help myself.
Chapter 8: Varian in the Kitchen
It wasn't Daniel's exiting squeaky voice that woke him from his sea of thouhts.
It was Annabelle's loud scream, piercing into his right ear.
"Daniel, where did you find that thing?" Prince Lars said franticly and rose from his chair.
He heard Jonas chuckle. "So the wild cat has returned?"
"Jonas, you can see for yourself that is a raccoon?!"
A raccoon? Fredric shut his eyes and ignored the pain in his ear, and got all pale when he spotted Daniel, with a confused and frightened Ruddiger in his arms. The boy held him rather tight as the critter was objecting as wild as a tame critter could, but spotting Fredric he looked rather appealing at him, like he was asking for an explanation for why he had been picked up by a stranger and peading him to be rescued from the tight grip.
The Duke himself gave a cry similar to his daughter, if not so piercing. "Get that thing away, you know I... I..." he was unable to say anything more as he broke into a fit with several short sneezes, not allowing him to finish off.
"Can I keep him, dad?" Daniel asked, looking rather satisfied with his catch.
"Absolutely not!" Lars was losing control over the situation and begun speaking rather franticly as he hesitated to either handle his son or his allergic brother in law. "You know your uncle can't be near furry beasts."
"But he's no beast, and he's mine!" Daniel cried out in anger. "I found him!"
Fredric knew he had to act quickly, and with any further hesitation he started walking around the table and spoke determinant, but gently. "Oh, I don't think it would be a good idea to keep him." He stepped over to him, looking down at him with as calm eyes as he could. "Besides, you do know that your uncle begins to sneeze so bad when there is furry creatures near him. Just look!" he pointed his hand towards his cousin, bent over the table in another sneezing fit. The normally strict and proper behaving Duke appeared to have disappeared, and back was a rather pitiful sight of a red nose.
"But he's not gonna be here for weeks!" the young Prince objected.
"But... I don't think the little being agrees with you there, my boy." Fredric kept going calmly. "So let me take care of that raccoon now... Oh there!" Fredric got a bit startled when Ruddiger after much struggle managed at last to get free from the boy's grip and made a jump up in Fredric's arms, crooning delighted as he made a crawl around his shoulders, feeling safe at last.
"Your Majesty!" Jonas was up in a second and ran towards them."Let me take care of the beast. I can't let..."
He was about to stretch out his arms to take him when Ruddiger made a snarl towards him, showing teeth as he approached. Apparently he'd had enough strangers picking him up in one day, although this behavior puzzled Fredric. "No no no, lad. I can handle a little critter. I am not that worried about getting my hands eh... filthy. Besides..." he pointed toward the pavilion. "Shouldn't you be taking care of your fiancé? Poor think looks like she's about to faint."
"You're right! What was I thinking?" He immediately turned on his heel and ran back to support Annabelle from falling. She leaned on his shoulder as he patted gently on her hand to get her attention. She looked up at him a moment before looking at Fredric, and gave another cry as her eyes widened.
"Watch out, uncle! It's got you, it's gonna bite you!"
"Relax now, silly girl." Fredric felt he was about to loose his patience. "It's the other way around. I've got him! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a critter to deal with." And by that he turned to walk away, carefully lifting Ruddiger down so he held him in his arms instead. He heard Daniel's objections and Prince Lars' voice scowl at him and his cousin still sneezing and moaning like it was for his life.
Inside the castle, he felt a great relief when he closed the door behind him. "Thank goodness, I was waiting for an excuse to get away from that... Oh how I wish Eugene were here now. He would have been able to talk him off." He looked at Ruddiger. "As for you, my friend..." he gave him a curious look. "First of all, it wasn't necessary to snarl at Jonas like that. He meant no harm. And second; Why aren't you with your master?"
Ruddiger suddenly jumped down and was running in circles before he began running back to the direction he came from earlier.
"What is it, boy?" Fredric asked as he followed the raccoon towards another corridor. "Ruddiger, I don't understand what you want. I..." He stopped as he suddenly discovered an open window at the end of the second corridor. All of a sudden he got a bad feeling and he ran towards the window, feeling how all color faded from his face as he discovered a pair of triangle shaped greasy ham slices, one hanging over the window sill, one half folded on the floor. He looked out of the window, then down at Ruddiger, who gave him a pair of worried eyes and a concerned croon.
"Oh no... He couldn't have..."
"Your Majesty?"
The King turned around to face the Captain, who stopped at the sight of the raccoon.
The King picked up the slice laying on the window sill and held it up in front of him. "This better not mean what I think it means!"
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Arianna woke up as she felt a light breeze or something like it at her face. When she opened her eyes, she squinted at Nigel bending over her, waving his handkerchief over her face. He looked worried, but as she looked at him, he gave a heavy sigh of relief. "Ah, thank goodness, Your Majesty! I was so worried."
She didn't know how long she had been out, but she gathered herself at her best and sat up straight.
"Let me help, my Queen." Nigel said and Arianna let him assist her in getting up on her feet again and supported to him while walking towards the bed. As she sat down, she took a deep breath and spoke with calm voice.
"Alright, Nigel..." she begun, breathing slowly. "Take it from the start. Make it short and simple."
After drawing his breath deeply himself, he begun to explain how he had met the Duke at the gate, where he had received the news of Annabelle's upcoming marriage with this Jonas, and the reason for their sudden early arrival, and then how he and the Captain had found Pete and Stan sneezing and searching in the corridors after an escaped Varian.
As she heard the reason for the Duke's early arrival, she felt how her jaw could have dropped to the floor, and for a moment, all fear about Varian was like gone with the wind. "Prepare her for marriage?"
"He said there was no one else better fitted than eh..." Nigel hesitated. "Your Majesty."
"Oh, so he said that?" Arianna's face went from shocked to frowning in a rage that kept growing and growing. Then she fumbled with her hand behind her and grabbed the closest pillow from the bed, before she pressed it to her face and let out a loud scream into it. Nigel watched with slight disbelief, although, he couldn't blame her either, and let her pour out her frustration to the pillow before he raised her head to draw her breath.
"How dare he?" She thre the pillow back on the bed madras with great force. "HOW DARE HE!? That snobbish, arrogant fool." She rose from her bed and begun walking back and forth while breathing through bitten teeth. "So he thinks I have NOTHING to occupy my time with now that my daughter's not here? That I'm just sprawling around here at the castle? Am I the Queen of Corona or what? Not to him! To him I'm only a... a... ARGH!" She stopped in the middle of the room, stomping her foot on the floor as she let out the frustrated cry. "Well, that swollen baboon can think what he wants. I will NOT be taken for granted like that." She crossed her arms stood a moment.
"But Your Majesty..." Nigel said as he approached her, humbly but certain. "What about poor Princess Annabelle? She has been looking so much forward to this. She did mention to me that the her grace had been like a mother for her long time ago. Before... " he stopped himself, realizing that he might had gone too far now.
"I... I recall..." Arianna interrupted him and walked away. All of a sudden she had gotten a lost look on her face. "She had just lost her mother, shortly after she married the Duke. He wasn't her real father, so he wasn't used to handle children. She was only three years old.. two years before Rapunzel was born, and... Since Fredric and I were longing for a child ourselves, it was natural to... treat her like that." She didn't realize that she had been walking towards the picture of them and little baby Rapunzel before she stood right in front of it. She looked up at it again, feeling at sudden how much she missed her. Her cheerful mood, her enthusiasm, her smile and huge innocent eyes. Arianna held back the new tears that threatened to come and drew her breath. "But... they haven't been around for, I don't recall how long. None of them appeared at Rapunzel's coronation. That she still feels like that... I would have thought the Duke would have arranged some wet nurses or perhaps a lady-in-waiting or a governess for that kind of... I don't know if I am fit for such matters right now, after..." she stopped herself with a gasp, and turned around, looking wide eyed at Nigel. "The Duke hasn't heard about Varian, has he? Sure he must have heard, but that he has escaped..."
"Absolutely not, my lady. The Captain and I agreed that it was better to handle this as discreetly as possible. And the Duke himself won't be staying. I bet he'll be on his way within supper."
"Ah, thank goodness." Arianna sighed heavily. "We would never hear the end of it then."
"But both Annabelle and young Prince Daniel is here..."
"An unstable alchemist on the loose at almost the same age as a young Prince..." Arianna said sarcastic and let herself fall down on the couch she had been sitting on earlier. "Yes, this will be marvelous indeed."
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In another part of the castle, the maids had just gathered the laundry for drying up and were hanging it up when the eldest maid in charge came towards two of them, a middle aged red haired woman and a young girl.
"Listen girls, we're having royal relations visiting so bedrooms must be prepared. There are three princes, one of them a young one, and a lady, Princess Annabelle, daugter of Duke Walponce of South Corona. The dinner must be extended. The amount of vegetables must be tripled, and some potatoes must be fried. I doubt the little boy likes vegetables."
The woman sighed. "Typical. The day the chef comes down with a cold, the most demanding members of the royal court comes to the castle."
"A young Prince?" the girl's eyes widened. "How old is he?"
The elder woman chuckled. "Way to young for you dearie."
"And waaay beyond your level, Karen." the woman one said sarcastically. "So stop dreaming."
The girl gave her a pout.
"Now, we must share the tasks, or else we'll never finish. Millicent, you come with me. We'll prepare the bedrooms. You will also be responsible for Princess Annabelle."
Millicent moaned and rolled her eyes. "Not that snobbish goose."
"Karen..." she turned to the girl. "You go to the kitchen and double up the ammount of vegetables and start peeling the potatoes. I will come and help you when we're finished."
"I can take care of the Princess if aunt Milly doesn't want to, grandma." Karen said eagerly.
"That's not good idea, Karen. You won't be able to stand her, and she'll never take a child seriously."
"I'm not a child anymore!" the girl said angry.
"Then stop acting like one, and get to work!" Millicent spat back. And by that the two grown ups left to prepare the bedrooms.
Karen was left behind, looking lost a first, but tightened her fists and frowned. "Fine." she mumbled and begun walking after them.
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Varian was so excited about his escape that he had yet to figure out that Ruddiger had fallen behind. He was hiding behind a door in a room and made sure to keep himself low behind it as the guards opened it to search through the room to think the thought that he was right beside them. As the door closed, he peeked out.
But as he was to run he heard heavy footsteps approaching near, and he hurried to search for a way. He spotted the open door to his right, and hurried towards it.
As he closed it behind him, he looked around. Pretty right, it was the kitchen for sure, as there had been some cooking going on. The scents of food still hanging in the air, he bet it was from the lunch they had presented to him. All of a sudden he regretted that he hadn't snatched one of those sandwiches with him, as the smell of food suddenly made his belly rumble. It wouldn't be too difficult to just grab something simple, even a carrot would do, he thought as he spotted a bunch of them beside a number of other vegetables. A huge turkey was boiling on an enormous pan, apparently they would let it cook for a while and handle the veggies later.
Heck, the royalties had more than enough, they could easily manage without a few.
Right beside the carrots he spotted a bundle of fur. It was red striped cat with short hair, matching the carrots nicely and he wouldn't have noticed it if it hadn't raised its head to see who it was approaching, squinting his green eyes at him.
"Nice little kitty, you're not gonna tell on me, are you?" he mumbled low, like he was talking gently to Ruddiger.
The cat just stared at him, and obviously thought of him as a weird thing who just disturbed his sleep.
He had just managed to snatch a couple of the carrots into his shirt and was to grab a third one to eat when he heard sounds from the door in the other end. The cat looked towards the door and got up, and Varian suddenly panicked. Searching for a hiding place, he found a temporarily one under a shelf near the middle benches. Skinny as he was, he fitted rather nicely under there.
The door opened, and a young girl, maybe a little younger than his age, came rushing in, in a foul mood as she slammed the door behind her. "You cut the vegetables, Karen. Sure, I'm old enough for that, then I'm suddenly not a child anymore. But I bet they won't be right when aunt Milly examinants them. I've never heard the royalties complain!"
She walked past the shelf where Varian was hiding, and he crunched himself tighter to not be discovered as he saw the skirts of her peach and yellow dress rustle around her feet as she passed him. He heard the cat meow and watched at it jumped down on the floor to greet the girl.
"It's just so unfair, Caterpillar." she said as she bent down to lift up the cat, Varian holding his breath, watching locks of brown hair fall down her arms as she did so, blocking the sight of him. "It's like nothing will ever be the same since that day when... everyone started yelling ugly things to eachother. I don't understand why everyone got so angry that day. It was just like, I don't know, a spell was cast at everyone." From the skirts, he noted that she carried the cat away with her while speaking to it. As she walked away, he saw the chance to sneak out, hoping to reach the door where she had entered while she had her back turned. He watched her as she was busy talking to the cat, petting it at its head, something it clearly enjoyed. He almost bumped into a stool and made some clumsy steps to avoid it and keep quiet at the same time.
But as he had gotten up and managed to step back to the edge of the bench at last, she was to turn around again, and he had to duck behind the bench again to avoid getting discovered.
"I just can't believe that everything people said to eachother that day, were true." the girl kept on, walking to his direction, forcing him to go left around the bench, still keeping his head low. It was impossible not to listen to what she said as he had no chance of interrupting her, and realized soon what she was talking about.
The cookies. The truth serum. He had no counting of how many people he'd had fooled to eat those, embarrassingly many actually, to figure out if the flower really were in the castle. If the girl had been one of them, he failed to recall. Neither had he realized how harshly the truth would come like that, and it was first now he began thinking about it. He hadn't thought at all of the consequences of doing that. It hadn't been his plant to make them scowl eachother, but then again, few people liked to hear the truth raw and uncovered.
He shook his head. Why did he bother thinking like this at all? It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. He did what he had to do.
As she spoke, another realization came to him as he saw how she petted and talked to her cat the way he would do with his own furry companion. Where was Ruddiger? If she discovered him... But where was he? If he wasn't near him, he would probably go to the food. But the cat would probably had found out about him by now, or the girl. So the only logical explanation had to be that he had been falling behind. Rats! He had to go back and find him. In the middle of this realization, his belly started rumbling again, and out of reflex he hushed at it to keep quiet.
But the girl was too busy talking to notice anything it appeared. "I don't want to believe what they said about mom and dad. Why would they keep something like that away from me? I always thought they were okay with me. But... now I know they're not." He heard her sniffle, and realizing she was crying he felt a little braver and sneaked a little further away, till he were at the other side of the bench. There, close to the door he came through first, he would have best chance of finding his furry companion and then escape.
But when he was to look up he found the cat staring at him. She must have let go of it on the bench, and it was now turning his attention to him.
No no, nice cat, don't give me away now.
Luckily, he spotted the backside of the girl's head, shaking slightly as she had probably sat down on the stool he almost stumbled in. He saw the cat lick it's upper lip, and he realized that it was the last ham slices he had in his pocket. He acted quickly and picked one of them up, and Caterpillar followed it with its green eyes, which became larger and larger. With the blink of an eye, he threw it to his left, towards the vegetables, and the cat followed it with a leap.
He begun stepping back, fearing she would turn around to sound the alarm if she spotted him. He turned around to leap towards it and swing it open to get the heck out of there when something came in a rush and struck him right in the face.