Chapter 16: A Boy in the Sick Room
I am just going on with this despite that season 3 does the same. And I will until I am through with it. I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
I find myself in a chapter mood today.
By the way, a deep and wholeheartely thanks to those who has given comments. They mean allot to me. Thank you so much, I hope you will continue and give me constructive feedback and tell me what you think.
"I am thrilled to hear this. Congratulations to both of you!" the Captain said, giving a little extra shake in the grip he had in Jonas' hand. He tried his best to put a little extra in it to cover the current situation, but discovered to his embarrassment how poor he was when it came to small talk. "I am... overwhelmed by this upcoming event!"
"Thank you indeed. And I am... overwhelmed by your enthusiasm." Jonas said as he finally got his hand back, and discreetly gave a questioning look to his brother, who arched an eyebrow and shrugged back.
"What a pity I did not get to tell his Lordship himself what a pleasant... thing this is... I was told he had to leave so quickly. What a shame. Eh... But how splendid. I mean the wedding, that is. A wedding is just what we need to look forward to now."
"That's what my father was saying too." Annabelle said nonchalant, but then she got a different look in her eyes. "Speaking of weddings, how about your little Cassandra? How is she doing at these days?" the Princess said in a sweet, but a little spitting tone. "Have you got any plans of finding her a husband? Or has she managed to... capture one herself yet?"
The Captain found the mocking tone in her voice on the edge, but he kept his smile, even though rather stiff. "Oh, you won't find Cassandra married in a while. My daughter is... in fact, far too dedicated to her duties as Princess Rapunzel's lady-in-waiting. She... loves her job and puts everything into it." The Captain found it rather unnecessary that he had recognized his daughter's skills as a guard in present company. "I am quite proud of her position, in fact. Unfortunately, she happens to be away, along with the Princess, and does not get to share this pleasure."
"Hm. What a surprise." Annabelle chuckled. "I missed her too."
"Well, of course she had to bring her lady-in-waiting with her." Jonas said.
"So, I take it that the wedding will take place in not too long, I hope?" the Captain asked. "Or are you planning to wait till the Princess comes back? I am certain she would love to be there to witness her cousin's wedding."
"Sure..." she said as she tilted her head towards Jonas and gave him a dreaming look with her brown eyes. "If only I can wait that long!"
"That depends..." he replied and took her hand. "For my part, we could have done it tomorrow."
"Without my father present? Absolutely not!" she said and gave his hand a light smack with the closed fan hanging from her wrist.
Rapunzel would have found this adoring, but Cassandra would have thrown up by now, the Captain thought to himself. Thank heavens' they're both away. But his thoughts were interrupted when Lars spoke.
"Captain, I am sorry to bother you with this, but you probably remember that I brought my son along?"
"Yes, I seem to recall a young lad..." the Captain said.
"And now..." Lars cleared his throat and blinked nervously. "I am afraid we have lost him. He might have taken a stroll, somewhere around here. Perhaps you have seen him?"
The Captain's eyes widened and his lips became a thin line underneath his mustache. He almost swallowed his bottom lip to prevent himself from bursting out with something that would give away the situation.
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"What are we going to do, Fredric?" Arianna asked, on the edge of panic.
"I don't know, I have to think..."
"There's no time for that!" Arianna tried not to raise her voice.
Ruddiger was getting anxious from their frustration and started to wriggle. Fredric recalled he was still there, and grabbed a hold on him. "No please, Ruddiger. Don't..."
Arianna helped him keep his paws under control as the critter didn't calm down. "We have to hide him, we can't let them see him with us."
"Don't worry about him. The Captain has a plan, and..."
"AHEM! My Queen!?"
The Captain's loud cough brought them back and Arianna held up her hand to make him wait before she appeared from behind the corner, hoping her cheeks weren't getting red from stress and probably smiling a little more than necessary. "Captain?"
"Don't you think it's a good idea to get the guests settled after the long journey, and then I will go and look for young Prince Daniel and see that he returns to his father."
"That's a brilliant idea, Captain!" Arianna folded her hands as she walked to them, grabbing Annabelle by her arms, gently but steady. "As a matter of fact, I think that we should head off right now! Please follow me. I will personally show you to your rooms- We have made ready the best, and we have made sure Annabelle get's her own lady-in-waiting, and..."
"No no! I insist on going with you, Captain!" Lars said, stepping towards him. "It is my son, and I want to take him to his room in person."
The Captain noticed the Queens's eyes flick as her their plan were disturbed and broke in. "But your Grace, there is no need to waste your time."
"Captain, I won't be able to rest before I know where my son is!" Prince Lars, whom by now had seemed rather gentle despite his concern about his son's behavior, begun to sound rather demanding and strict at sudden, although there was allot of concern in his voice as well. The Captain begun to feel the situation was getting worse.
From behind the corner, Fredric was about to walk away with the raccoon when he heard voiced approaching from the other end. He froze a moment and feared it was Varian facing anyone, and sharpened his ears.
"Stop this instant, young lady!"
"Stop following me around. I can take care of myself!"
Fredric was relieved one moment when it turned out to be Nigel following the young scullery maid, Karen. At the same time, they were raising their voices, and Fredric feared they would be given away. He found himself trapped with nowhere to escape. And with Ruddiger still under his waistcoat, he was in quite a difficult situation.
It didn't help that young Karen headed right over to him the moment she spotted him, and that Nigel was making such a commotion about trying to stop her.
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"I see no reason why I shouldn't go look for my own son." Lars said as he grew from determinant to slightly angry.
"But I assure you, Sire, we are having everything under control."
"What on earth do you mean by that, Captain?" the prince squinted his brown eyes. Behind him, his younger brother arched an eyebrow and looked from the Captain to hi s brother and then towards the Captain again, but he remained silent.
The Captain found himself unable to answer. He exchanged looks with the Queen a moment, who apparently begun to realize that they were about to lose hold over the situation. But as he thought the silence would give them away, it was broken with voices behind the corner.
"Your Majesty, I am sorry, but..."
"Oh, Nigel... Eh- what is this..."
"Is that Nigel?" Jonas asked.
"Is that uncle?" Annabelle asked. "I wondered where he had gone." she was about to walk past to meet him, but was stopped by Arianna's gentle, but steady grip in her arm.
"M-my dear, there is no need to disturb the King right now."
"Well, I must disagree!" Lars said determinant and walked past the Captain before he could react. "I demand a word with His Majesty this instant!"
Arianna instantly let go of Annabelle and followed when the Captain went after him as he past the corner to face the King. Jonas and Annabelle were left behind, both looking like a pair of questions.
"Everyone turn out to act odd today." Jonas shrugged.
"Hm..." Annabelle replied, insulted for being ignored. "And all because of that little rat!"
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"Let go of me, Nigel. I just have to speak with His Majesty!" Karen said angry.
"You will not bother the King right now, lass!" Nigel said. "We must get you to safety before... Oh dear! Prince Lars!" The advicor's eyes widened and he grew all pale when he spotted the red haired prince.
"Your Majesty? I need a word!"
Fredric became all stiff as he heard Prince Lars behind him, sounding rather demanding. He turned his head around slightly to face him, but kept the rest of his body turned away. But Arianna and the Captain both approached, eyes wide and desperately figuring out a way to prevent a disaster from happening.
At last, Nigel too discover the dreadful fact that Ruddiger was also present, although hidden, and he became all silent as the risk of giving him away.
Fredric stood still, holding his arms to his chest while he did his best to cover the animal he had hiding there. No one said anything, but Arianna, the Captain and Nigel were all on the alert, desperately trying to figure out how to solve the sudden issue that they all feared would occur if the raccoon were discovered. Fredric himself had trouble enough keeping him hidden, but the critter's claws were threatening to piece him in his chest and he hoped it didn't show if he felt a little sting now and then. Not to mention how much his movements tickled.
"Yes Lars, just a moment, I... What was it you wanted to say, my dear?" Fredric said, turning towards the young girl. He figured out that it was better to solve one problem at the time, and turning towards the little girl were at the moment an excuse to avoid Ruddiger to be seen by Lars. Behind him, Jonas and Annabelle followed to figure out what the commotion was about. Annabelle obviously wanted to express her frustration, but Arianna held up a hand to prevent her from making a scene. Jonas watched his brother, who was obviously getting frustrated with being ignored and clenched his teeth.
The girl noticed the company, but thought that after having such a struggle with Nigel, she didn't want to wait with her task. So she made a kneel and a nod and looked up. "I was told to tell his Majesty that Master Phineas is back!"
"Oh really?" the King widened his eyes. "Well, that was good news indeed, yes, very good new. Did you hear that, Arianna? He's back at last."
"Oh yes, indeed..." Arianna said, hoping to help somehow in the situation, but was barely able to hide how tense she had become.
"Yes, Your Majesty! He told me in person..." she gave Nigel a spitting look, but kept speaking to the King. "He returned today and is at this moment settled in the medical apartments."
"Good, good lass. Thank you for telling me this. I need to speak with him as soon as possible." Fredric replied. He knew he was only postponing what could be a vital disaster, but the situation had made him desperate.
"Well, that's gonna take a while, Your Majesty." Karen said.
"Oh? Eh,,," Fredric arched an eyebrow. "And why is this?"
Beside him, Lars sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Well, you see, that was the other thing I was supposed to tell. He won't be available as he's treating a wounded boy in the sick room."
"A wounded boy?"
Arianna and Prince Lars exchanged looks as they both bursted out with the same sentence, Arianna suddenly getting uncomfortable. The King, Nigel and the Captain did the same as they all grew pale.
"Eh... yes. Grandmother and I, we found this boy in the kitchen, and he was hurt and..."
"Hurt?!" Prince Lars' freckled face paled as well and his eyes widened as he clenched his teeth. Within seconds, he was in front of Karen, bent down and grabbed the girl by her slender shoulders, causing her to give a cry. "Tell me, was he short, red haired and had freckles?"
"Eh..." Karen got a bit frightened by his hard grip, but managed to stumble some words. "He... had freckles, but..."
"Daniel...!" Before anyone could react, the Prince ran past them all in such speed that it seemed almost like he flew. They all stood like time had frozen itself and looked after Lars as he disappeared around the corner of the hallway.
"But... not red hair..." Karen managed to finish at last with a sigh.
As they were all put out of the situation, Fredric lost the steady grip he had around the critter that he had hidden inside his waistcoat. His hands loosened up just a bit as he looked after Lars, and Ruddiger seized the chance. With a steady push with his back legs, the raccoon jumped out of his hiding place and were out on the floor before anyone could react, and ran out in the same direction as Lars had gone.