Chapter 10: Varian is Confused

Nigel closed the door to the royal bedroom behind them when he and the Queen went through the corridor.

"I believe that I sound like a coward saying this, but I actually hope the Duke has already left by now." Arianna said as she began walking, frowning to herself. "Even though I should give him a scowl for his silly ideas."

"It might be a chance that we meet him before..." Nigel stopped himself when he spotted the maids with a trolley of bedclothes further down the corridor. They were quite occupied and were chattering with each other and didn't seem to have heard about the threat.

"We should inform them." Arianna said, looking at Nigel, who nodded in return and followed her. "Violet? Millicent?" she called out to them.

Both the maids stopped working and looked up when they heard who spoke, and both kneeled as Arianna approached. "Your Majesty!" the eldest, Violet, explained. "We are preparing the rooms for Princess Annabelle and the Princes. And now that Your Majesty is here, I have to ask; should the young Prince have a room in his father's suite, or is he old enough to..."

Arianna rose her hand to politely interrupt her, and took the word before Nigel managed to interfere. "I hate to disturb you both in your work, but I feel I must inform you about a vital case."

Violet and Millicent exchanged looks before they paid her attention.

She gave a short, but specific description of the situation; that the dangerous criminal that had been attacking the Castle, kidnapping and almost killed Arianna, had escaped from captivity, were running around on the Castle and were hunted down at this moment.

"Now, the Duke, and Prince Lars and Annabelle, and whoever this other man is; none of them, shall know anything. Not a single word to anyone! We cannot afford the Duke to know about this. Is that clear?"

"Yes, your Majesty!" Millicent nodded and gave a short bow to confirm the order. "But I sure hope they catch him soon."

"Oh my goodness!" the plump old Violet bursted out, forgetting manners of all kind as she clapped her hands to her round cheeks as her eyes went wide. "Karen! She's alone in the kitchen! I've got to warn her!" She forgot about the bedrooms and turned on her heel, lifted her skirts and was about to rush down the corridor when Nigel stepped forward to calm her down and blocked her way.

"Violet, please. The guards are handling this. There is no need for us to..."

"Out of my way, you fancy scarecrow!" Violet only had to reach out her arm and push Nigel out of her way, throwing the skinny advisor into the trolley of bedclothes. She humped away as fast as her chubby body allowed her, and were gone by next corridor.

"I am sorry for my mother, Your Majesty!" Millicent said as he helped Nigel get free from all the sheets that had fallen over him.

"No, we might have reason to be worried. She would be the most likely victim to be used as a hostage to get out, being so young! It's one chance in a hundred that he'll run into her of all people, but still..." Arianna said and helped Nigel out of the last sheet and pulled him up. "I'm not sure if the guards will be concerned with telling the whole staff about this."

"Leave that job to me, my Queen!" Nigel said. "I believe it's better that Your Majesties handle the royal guests while the rest of us handle the prisoner. Princess Annabelle is expecting your Majesty anyway, and..."

"Yes, perhaps that is the best way. Now hurry up, Nigel. You will warn the staff, and I will go and meet the guests. But please, I beg you. Don't make anyone panic! This must be discreet!"

"As you wish, My Queen!" Nigel was not slow. After a quick bow he too leaped across the corridors as fast as his skinny legs could carry him. After Arianna too had gone, Millicent was left alone, shrugging and beginning to clean up the sheets from the floor.

"And I will make beds." she said sarcastically as she grabbed a bundle of bedclothes and entered the next room.

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"Oh daddy, are you certain you can't stay any longer? I'm sure auntie will be so sorry she missed you." Annabelle was pleading as she walked after her father, supported by Prince Lars as he was having trouble keeping himself upstanding as they walked through the corridors to the gate.

"I'm dorry by deav..." he sniffled and coughed over eachother, half way looking up at her. "I bear I boud dage by beap ib I day."

"What's he saying?" Daniel said from where he was walking behind with Jonas.

"He fears he will take his death if he stays." Jonas explained as low as he could, bending down to him as they walked.

"All because of a cat?" Daniel said frowning.

"It wasn't a cat. It was a raccoon." his young uncle explained.

"You thought so too!" Daniel scowled at him.

Jonas chuckled and laid a hand around his shoulders. "Yes, I thoughts so too, that's right."

"Jonas, can you go ahead and see if the wagon is ready?" his elder brother called from ahead.

"Sure Lars, I'm on it!" he said before he gave Daniel a look. "Daniel, be good now, and stay with Annabelle while we get uncle Walponce going, okay?"

"Hmph, fine!" the boy frowned and looked away.

Then his uncle ran off ahead of them. But halfway through the next he almost bumped into Nigel, who gave a loud, startled cry when he met him when he appeared down a staircase. "Aaah, your grace!" His face suddenly got pale and his eyes went wide as he walked back and stumbled in his own feet and fell backwards.

"Be careful now!" Jonas said and caught his arm in time and helped him up. "What's the hurry?"

"Eh-oh-uhm.. Sir, I... " Nigel stumbled as he managed to get back up on his feet. "I am so sorry! What a clumsy moron I am." He saw the company behind, with the Duke barely able to walk on his own, supported by Prince Lars. "Oh, Your Grace. Is everything alright? You're not leaving us already, are you?" Nigel asked.

"His Lordship will finds it necessary to leave as fast as possible!" Prince Lars said. "Brother...?"

"On my way!" Jonas said and ran away. Nigel looked after him and then looked at the Duke and the Prince, and immediately offered assistance.

"Your Grace, let me..." he said, offering his arm. "I am pleased to tell that bedrooms are prepared this moment, and the Queen has been informed about Annabelle. Your Grace should have seen the look on Her Majesty's face, she was eh... absolutely speechless!"

As they lumped away, Arianna looked after them when she approached the staircase from where Nigel had appeared a minute ago. She let out a sigh of relief and drew her breath again before entering the corridor. "Annabelle? Is that really you? It's been some years now, it's so good to see you!" She tried not to sound overwhelmed, but she did open her arms as she walked towards her. "Look how grown you have become! And so beautiful."

Annabelle looked in her direction when she was spoken to, and she too started walking towards her,, opening her arms as well as she met her with a hug. "Anutie! There you are. I was wondering if you were here at all!"

Arianna returned the hug warmly before she let go of her to look her in the eyes. "I was just having a nap after lunch when Nigel came to inform me about the big news. Is it true? Are you really getting married?" she grabbed her heart shaped face in her hands and smiled widely. "How terrific! What kind of man is this?" She grabbed her arm in hers and begun walking slowly. "Let me hear all about him. Do we know of him?"

"I doubt it very much, Auntie. You see..."

Annabelle were so uptaken with the Queen that she failed to notice that young Daniel had taken his leave again.

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"What do you mean with 'who's Cassandra?'" Karen said.

"I-I can't recall anyone with that name." he said, shaking his head while he gave her an excusing look with his huge blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"But..." Karen got insecure of how to handle the situation. "Don't you remember me either?" she asked.

"Eh..." he eyed her up and down. "No, I... don't think so?"

"But... But I spoke to you! Don't you remember that at all? Down in the laundry hall?"

"The laundry hall?" he blinked and squinted his eyes again as he looked around before looking at her again. "Uhm... I hope you don't mind me asking again, but... precisely where did you say we are again?"

She moaned and rolled her eyes. "We are 'precisely...'"she put some weight on the last word in a sarcastic tone. "The kitchen in Corona Castle! That's where we are!" she crossed her arms when she was finished, looking down at him with half closed eyes.

"CORONA CASTLE?!" he widened his eyes and he got a panicked look on his pale face as he franticly started to look around himself. "What is going on? What am I doing here?" He stumbled to get up on his feet, scaring Caterpillar in the process, who had settled down beside him to wash his ear, but now he ran behind Karen's skirts. "I can't stay here! My dad is gonna-woaaaw..." He had barely managed to get up on his feet, before he rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to fall.

"Watch out!" Karen cried out as she ran to catch him when he almost fell down on the floor. She managed to grab him by his arm and hold him half way up while he landed on his knees. His head hung down and wagged back and forth, making him look like a ragdoll she had just lifted up from the floor. She noticed now that the glass in the goggles on top of his head were broken, one were even missing a few shards. She put some strength into lifting him, and got herself a shock when she discovered how light he was. As she held him, she saw how skinny his arms were and when he looked up at her, with a hazed gaze and confused look, she saw that his cheekbones were horribly visible. "Gosh, you're allot skinnier than I remember."

"Huh?" he mumbled underneath the mop of hair that hid half his face, not really able to focus. "What just happened?"

Karen suddenly got worried about him and forgot how frustrated she had been a moment ago."You know, don't look so well!" she said, and used her other hand to touch his palm to check his temperature. "Maybe I should..."

She never got to finish, because the door were suddenly flung open. "Karen, are you alright?"

Karen got startled at first by a third shocking surprise, then she froze when she heard Violet's voice, but the next second she saw the chance for some assistance. "He needs help, grandma!"

The elderly maid had been rather franticly when she entered, and there was a mix of emotions that crossed her face when she saw Karen with the boy in her arms. "What... Where did he come from?" she stumbled, trying to figure out of the situation.

"I don't know, but he's not in good shape!" Karen replied.

Violet forgot a moment about the reason she had stormed in like that when she saw the pitiful situation the boy seemed to be in, and walked over to have a closer look at him. "Poor dear, what in the world have you been through?"

"I don't know, and he doesn't seem to remember either." Karen said and tried to get his arm around her neck to keep him up straight. "He's head is all messed up. I bet he doesn't even remember his own name."

"No no, I remember that much." the boy said and tried to balance himself up. "My name is... Varitas." he said before shaking his head hard."No no, wait... Where did that come from...?" He pinched the bridge of his nose and thought a little before he shut his eyes up. "Varian! Varian was it..." His eyes suddenly rolled and he lowered his head a bit. "And now I got dizzy..." He touched his forehead with his free hand. "Aww, my head..."

"Oh goodness..." Violet got all concerned for him as she eyed him all over, and grabbed his other arm and took it over her shoulder, lifting him up on his other side so he could lean on her. "Look at you... Oh good gracious!" she said as he got him close and wrinkled her nose by the odor that came from him. "You need a bath and a good rest and..." she stopped herself when she touched the back of his head, feeling something wet in between his hair and draw the hand back and looked at it, her eyes wide and a gasp escaped her lips. "Oh my, you have a wound as well!" she said, looking at the red substance that had gotten on her hand. "What on earth have you been up to, lad?"

"A wou-wha-ah-aaah..." Varian said as he turned to look at her, but the moment he spotted the blood on her hand, he got even paler than he already was, his eyes rolled up, he got a foolish look on his face before his head fell down and his legs gave in and he sunk down. It was an easy task to hold the skinny little body up, but never the less, he was completely lifeless where he hung between the two maids. Karen and Violet both looked down at him, before they looked at eachother, both with arched eyebrows.

"Can't even stand the sight of his own blood?" Violet said and tried to lift up his chin with the bloody hand around his head, but he was all gone. The moment she dropped his head, it fell down, dangling between his shoulders. "No life at all... This was a strange one, indeed."

"I was about to take him to the royal medics." Karen said.

"Then that's just where we're going." Violet said and begun walking. "Thank goodness you found him."

"Yeah..." Karen said and followed, looking away as they approached the door.