Chapter 20: Varian's state
Thank you to those who keep following so far. And special thanks to mycove and singertobe, who's own stories I have been following and enjoyed enormously as well. Therefore, critics from you both means allot to me. I hope you will keep following my story as I have been following yours. And thank you to you others who follow and make my day.
I forgot to mention that the brothers of Hans and Lars that I referred to in the last chapter are half based on the series Once Upon A Time, where Hans has two brothers named, Franz and Jürgen. I took the liberty of using the name Franz, while I made up Harold myself, along with the number of sons to each of them. The book A Frozen Heart only mentions Caleb's children, and not much else other than the others might have children. I might come back to this later. Now back to the situation in the Castle.
"Your Majesty, I demand an explanation!" Prince Lars yelled at Fredric. "What is the meaning of this? Yelling to a wounded boy like that! Are you not ashamed of yourself?"
"Jonas, take Daniel out of here and to his room this instant!" King Fredric said without looking at either of them.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Jonas said shortly before he grabbed a hold on young Daniel, leading him towards the double doors.
"But I don't wanna go to my room!" the young boy moaned. "I wanna go back to Varian!"
"You can talk with your new friend later!" Jonas said as he lifted him up and opened the door to leave with him. "Right now he needs some rest! And so do you!" They heard him object loudly after Jonas closed the door, but his cried soon faded in the hallway.
Lars had been a bit shocked by the sudden order, but now he went from angry to furious. "I beg your pardon, how DARE Your Majesty give my brother orders on my behalf like that? And when it comes to my son, I give the orders!"
"I know this sounds rather odd in your eyes, Lars..." Fredric begun, a little calmer this time, but Lars cut him off.
"It is PRINCE Lars, if I must be so bold!" The red haired man walked straight up to him, speaking with his face up to Fredric's. "Mark my words, I am by nature a peaceful man. But there are certain times where even I will go by my father's demand of a loud voice. And that time has come now!"
"You don't know what you're dealing with here. "Fredric tried to explain as steady and serious as he could. "Believe me when I say I am doing it for the safety of everyone."
"Safety?" he said shocked. "And what of Varian's safety? You frightened that poor lad, and he wasn't actually calm when it happened."
"I guarantee, I have him in mind as well."
"Well, it did not at all sound like that a moment ago."
"Lar... Prince Lars, this isn't at all your business. I must ask you to stay out of the matter with Varian!" Fredric was raising his voice a little, but tried to keep himself a little lower than Lars so he wouldn't be heard by the boy in the next room.
"I will most certainly not stay out of this. I have a son myself, and I know how I would have felt it if he was in the condition Varian is in now. I demand at least that you allow his father to know where he is! He must be worrying sick, as the boy is now..."
"I cannot do that! As much as I want to, I cannot follow that request!" Fredric said, feeling how frustration build itself up the more they kept this argument going.
Lars' face was about to turn as red as his hair as he looked at him with narrow eyes. "What? The boy's father musts know he's here!"
"There is absolutely NO WAY... of contacting Varian's father in any single way!" Fredric said, feeling he was about to lose his temper and he had to breath slowly in order to remain calm.
"Really?! " Lars frowned back at him. "And why is that?"
Fredric made a small break to gather himself, drew his breath... and dropped the bomb. "Because there is a chance... Varian's father might be dead!"
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"I don't care about that ugly creature of yours, I have my own worries to think about! So stay out of my way, or you'll sorely regret it!" Millicent yelled as she slammed a door in the faces of the Captain and Nigel, who stood for a moment like a pair of questions.
"Well, that went rather well." the Captain said, relieved over the sudden silence.
"Bless me!" Nigel said. "Although I bet her shouting has frightened the critter off."
"I can't say I blame him." the Captain said. He was about to say something more when a sudden sound made them both stand and listen. They turned around to see Jonas approach behind the corner with a dissatisfied, sprawling young red haired boy behind him. The two men were rather disturbed by the boy's loud, violent cries.
"I don't wanna go to bed! Let go of me!" The young boy were building himself up into a tantrum, and raised his voice.
"Don't argue now. You've caused enough trouble already. Why didn't you stay with Annabelle like you..." Jonas said, but stopped when he spotted the two men. "Oh? Gentlemen?" he smiled and nodded, still holding Daniel's hand hard in his, trying his best to ignore the boy's other fist hitting him violently.
"I hate you!" Daniel cried.
"Ah, I see you have found the young... Prince..." the Captain tried to sound normal, but the sight of Daniel sprawling himself like a little peasant rascal disturbed him a bit. He hadn't been able to have a look at the young boy as well as the grownups, but this wasn't exactly like what he expected.
"We found him alright." Jonas replied, but had to halfway pay attention to Daniel and kept turning his head back and forth from one to the other.
"I wonder... was it him at the sick room, Sir-eh... Jonas?" Nigel asked, recalling Jonas' earlier request of using just his name.
"He was in the sick room, but-AH..." Jonas lost his balance and fell on his knees when Daniel tried to pull himself free from his grip, and almost made it, but as Jonas grabbed a hold on the boy's belt. "Oh no, you don't!" he said as he pulled him back, making the boy cry out our when he landed on his behind. Then he got up in a hurry and grabbed him by his waist.
"I hope you'll excuse me, gentlemen... as I have to take this one to his room." Jonas said as he tried to get a better grip around the furious boy and lift him up, like a sack of flour. It didn't look like some way to treat a young royalty, but then again, the boy didn't actually act like a royalty.
"But Sir, the other..." the Captain begun.
"Sorry... little busy here!" Jonas said as he tried not to get himself kicked.
"I hate you! I hate you more than my dad!"
The Captain and the royal advisor was left alone again as they pondered over this odd incidence and both a little shaken.
"And I thought Varian was a handful..." the Captain mumbled while they watched them disappear, although still hearing them.
"You see what I mean?" Nigel said. "There were certain likenesses. I am not certain it would be a good idea to have him near Her Majesty."
"I doubt it would be an idea to have him near anyone..." the Captain replied. "But he is nevertheless a Prince and... None of our business right now." the Captain concluded and shook his head.
"What I would like to know is..." Nigel asked with a sudden concern. "If it was him in the sickroom, where is Varian now?"
"We will have to figure out of that later. Now we have to find the raccoon before he gets away. Hopefully, we'll run into one of them sooner or later."
"That's... one way of saying it." Nigel said and followed him meekly.
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The reception room fell quiet as Lars' furious face turned to shock and went from red to pale, showing off the freckles on his face more than ever.
"I don't know how much you have heard of Corona's state since you came home from Southern Isles Lars, but I will make a long story short." Fredric said and drew his breath. "As you've probably seen, we have had a situation with black rocks growing all over the Kingdom, causing disturbance and fear. In the middle of all this, a young boy, managed single handed to kidnap and almost kill my wife, the Queen, and at the same time launch an attack at the Kingdom itself. That boy..." Fredric paused a moment. "Is the very same boy as you have been dealing with now in there."
Lars' freckled face went pale and his mouth fell open. For a moment it looked like he stopped breathing, because after a while he begun panting in panic, but it was difficult to tell. After a moment gathering himself, he spoke.
"Are you telling me that the boy... Varian...?" he turned back to look at the door, and then slowly turned back to face the King. "The rumors are true? The boy is... the so called... 'Wizard' they're talking about?"
"He is absolutely NO wizard of ANY kind!" Fredric said determinant and shook his head. "He is simply an over gifted young man; a scientist he calls himself, and it was science and so called alchemy he used to perform his treason toward the Kingdom."
Lars had to lean towards the wall while he listened to the King speaking. The room remained silent until he spoke at last. "I just can't believe... It can't be..."
"I know it might be too incredible to understand, but I fear it is the truth."
It looked like the words got stuck on Lars' tongue, but after clearing his throat, he managed to utter himself again. "Why...? Why did he do such... things? He's just a child..."
Fredric closed his eyes when he spoke again. "For quite a while, we have tried to figure out how to deal with this issue. After all, the boy is too young to be sentenced to death like any grown man would have during similar accusations. At the same time..." Fredric hesitated a moment, but since he was so far into the tale, he decided to be honest, hoping his cousin's brother in law would understand. "There has been done... great injustice towards him as well."
Lars' confused gaze met his.
"He has most likely witnessed what we fear might be... his father's death. His father Quirin, who also happens to be an old friend of mine, has been captured in some kind of amber-like substance that grew out of these black rocks, and we have yet to figure out if he has survived this process. There is not to deny that this event alone must have caused some... great traumas and grief to the lad, and it has most likely been too much to handle all by himself, young as he is."
Fredric took a break to let it sink in to the red haired prince. Then he drew his breath again, and continued.
"At the same time, he was... wrongly accused for an earlier attempt of attack that he never actually committed, towards my daughter. He knew there was a connection between the rocks and... my daughter's magical hair. He came and begged her for help in a situation where she was completely unable to offer any assistance to him. In this process, a misunderstanding where caused, and it seemed like he made an attempt to attack her. Because these misunderstandings never were fully cleared out, everyone in Corona turned their back on him when he asked for help. In an attempt to free his father, he found himself so desperate that at he went as far as tricking Princess Rapunzel, whom had actually been a friend he felt gravely betrayed from, to steal the remains of the golden flower that was once used to rescue both her and her mother many years ago, in hope that it would free him from his captivity. And when this didn't work, he forced Rapunzel to come to him by kidnapping the Queen. And at this point, he had developed such fury towards all of them whom let him down that he... went on attacking the Kingdom with a horde of automatons he had built by himself."
Fredric made another pause, one he needed himself to gather up the courage to say the next part of the story.
"And... when this last attempt of trying to free his father didn't work... he went out with a self controlled automaton and lashed his anger out on us all and grabbed a hold on both my wife... and the Captain's daughter Cassandra. He..." Fredric made yet another pause to draw his breath, mostly to gather himself before he said the last sentence. "This action could have killed them both hadn't Rapunzel stopped him in time. And right after... Varian was arrested."
During the tale, Lars looked like he was going to faint, and at some point of Fredric's speech, he walked past him, and sat down on the bench near the door. There, he rested his elbows on his knees, letting his head hang down while he listened. Fredric remained silent a while to let it all sink in to the red haired Prince.
After what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, Fredric heard another voice interfere.
"If I may, Sire..."
Fredric turned to face the elder physician.
"Phineas, I am aware that you probably didn't know this about your... patient. But..."
"In the beginning I confess, I had no idea of who the boy was. But I choose to be honest, Sire. I was told who he were during this last hour."
Fredric turned towards him, getting confused and shocked and frowning his brows at him. "Then I believe you have some explaining to do."
"I know, but first..."
"I did not expect this from you of all people, Phineas. Why did you keep something like this a secret? We have been worried sick of what he would..."
"SIRE!" the sudden raise in the physician's voice made Fredric stop in shock. "How does His Majesty expect me to explain myself if I keep getting interrupted all the time? Is this how you plan to perform the trial against this lad? In that case, Your Majesty will keep on injustice towards him, and I believe all hope is out for him!"
The sudden harshness in the voice of the normally calm and steady physician made the King stunned, but after his words sank in, he sighed and looked at him. "I am sorry, Master. Please continue, I will not interfere."
The physician nodded and drew his breath silently. "Very well. After examinations of the young man, I have found he has a very serious case of amnesia. From what I have figured out, he has lost over six months if his memory. And from what I have been informed by my good friend Xavier, while he was so kind to give me a lift when I reached Old Corona..." Phineas turned towards Xavier, who made a polite, but simple nod when the King turned towards him. "I were able to discover something vital with his memory."
Fredric recognized the old blacksmith after seeing him handling the royal horses, but had failed to actually notice his presence before now, and got curious on what he was doing there. But he was too concerned with Varian to worry about old Xavier, and turned his attention to Phineas again. "And... this was..."
"His previous actions... his loss and experience during the time where he... apparently committed his crimes..." the physician looked the King directly into his eyes. "He most likely doesn't recall any of them!"
