Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three
Such grievous offense could not go unpunished, but there was no one to punish. Many nobles were shaken, clamoring that such a thing was a blow on the sanctity of the marriage itself, that whoever had committed such an affront needed to be punished, that this just couldn't be allowed to stand. Of course, as was obvious, such thing was to be dealt with at lunch. Three large tables had been set, one for the Germanians, one for the Tristanians, and the last one for us of Gallia...and the ambassador from Romalia, Julio, who shared our table as the neutral parties involved in this troublesome event.
I was content enough with eating calmly for the time being, and even went with fruit juice rather than alcohol, just to keep a clear head. The rest of my men followed my lead. Agnes was standing behind Louise, holding her head high and trying to make eye contact with me, but I simply shook my head imperceptibly, and she desisted.
"Will you lot shut yer fucking mouths!?" Emperor Albrecht slammed both hands down on the table, making the vast majority of nobles quiet down. "First off, ye gotta piss off Frederick! Ye think my guards have sausages in place of eyes!? If they saw nothing, they saw nothing! And before anyone starts clamoring, you fuck-faces, you better know that I had nothing to do with it! Imply it and I'm going to make sure you won't ever be going back home!" he clenched his right hand, and then opened it to grab the nearby goblet of wine and empty it.
"Well then, your Excellency, did they come up from the window? The Tristanians were all on one side of the palace-surely one of them must have heard something!" another noble of Germania remarked. "But none did! Not even those in the neighboring rooms heard a single whisper!"
"Good use of Wind Magic," a noble from Tristanian scoffed, "with all the noise you barbarians made way into the night, it was the only way to catch some sleep."
"Why you! You're a guest of us barbarians!" a Germanian slammed his hands on the table as he stood up.
"And we see the results of it!" another noble from Tristain yelled. "We can't even be safe here! We will be leaving-"
"Nobody leaves!" Emperor Albrecht slammed his hand against the table once more with firmness, "Nobody leaves." He growled, his eyes from one side of the table to the other. "The first who leaves this room-he'll be the guilty party." He decided in the end. "I can't allow this shit to go unchallenged, not on my watch! Not under my roof! Not under my name!" he bellowed. "So the fucker who did this shit better come out or we're all going to stay here until the end of times!"
The roars of indignation from the nobles on both sides was something quite fierce, which was however silenced by the rows of guards that slammed their halberds against the ground behind us. There were quite a few, and while the odds definitely were in the favor of some nobles getting out alive, the same odds also said that not all of us would. Also, Halberd beats swordwand if there isn't a spell charged, no questions asked. Reach, weight, the swordwand's blade shatters if it's not hardened-lots of fun things can happen in the span of the time it takes for you to pronounce Wind Blades. Most involve inner organs becoming outer organs.
"So the culprit's a noble," I said with a yawn leaving my lips. "Someone who last night was still sober enough to actually do something."
"What makes you so sure it couldn't have been someone from outside, your highness?" a noble from Tristain asked, "This is preposterous! Keeping foreign nobility trapped-all because of the rampant paranoia of a Germanian!"
"It's not paranoia if they are truly out to get you," I replied easily enough. "Let's just be blunt, shall we? In my meager and humble opinion, when someone kills someone else, there can be two reasons," I lifted my right hand hand, and my index finger at that, "Firstly, to benefit from the death. Secondly, to ensure someone else they care for benefits from the death." I clasped my fingers together. "Now the question remains, of course, on who benefits the most from this. The marriage's already done and consummated," it wasn't true, but nobody had to know it, and I was sure Albrecht wouldn't want it told he spent the night before utterly asleep and out like a light. "So any attempts to see this as a political maneuver to breed distrust between Tristain and Germania is meaningless."
"Are you exonerating yourself and your men from having anything to do with it?" a Germanian noble asked, and I simply shrugged.
"We were all so drunk we barely remember what happened last night," I pointed out. "But even our drunken revelry has limits. I don't think hacking away at a human being's body is something drunkards can do. No, whoever did this was willfully committed, completely sober, and knew exactly what he was doing." I flexed my fingers and looked up at the ceiling. "If I have to hazard a guess," my eyes glanced from the Germanian to the Tristanian side, "I think the culprit is probably long gone by now." I shrugged. "No assassin worth his salt would stay behind, and this seems a clear move designed to make Gallia the aggressor, because make no mistake-if I am even one day late, I have no doubts my wife would mobilize the whole army." I chuckled gently. "And I do not think the army would need to be told twice."
There were a few murmurs of agreement, mostly because I was agreeing with the general principle of letting us out rather than not.
"We will find whoever did this," Emperor Albrecht said firmly, "If you value peace, you should write a letter to your wife that complications held you back."
"Complications such as a murder? I can already foresee her reply, and it will come with the thunder of cannons as they crash and destroy the walls of Vindobona," I hummed pleasantly enough, even as I prayed that Raven would be fast with what he had to do to get us out of this troublesome situation unscathed. "She is pregnant. Who knows what she might think is an acceptable response to my continued stay here? The whole of Germania ablaze," I stared at the back of my nails, "truly a spectacle I would rather not see."
"You speak of a foolish dream," a Germanian noble said quite angrily. "Though Gallia might be rich, there is no way it would dare infringe upon the sovereign rights of another state, not like this, and most definitely not for a simple matter that can be solved with a letter."
I laughed. I laughed gingerly and then shook my head. "Letters can be falsified. I could be threatened under sword point to write whatever my captors might wish. Oh, I can think of at least a good dozen scenarios that would run through my adorable wife's head as she plans just how many ways she can have a Germanian messenger killed and sent back in a box to answer said letter." I clapped my hands once. "I either return home, in time, or you can say peace goodbye." My right hand gingerly rested on the top of my walking stick, and there it remained.
"You aren't afraid of saying such things even in my presence?" Emperor Albrecht asked, growling as he slowly stood up. "You threaten war against us, Prince? You would make a fine prisoner of war, as would the men of your escort-" as they began to tense and make to rise, I snapped my fingers.
"Stay seated," I said flatly. "We are not in here with them. They are the ones imprisoned with us."
I nonchalantly turned my gaze to the puce-colored visage of a man that had never been interrupted before, and then I smiled. "I am my mother's son, your excellency. I am the Heavy Wind's son. Now, let me ask you...is this your army so that I may send it flying?" and as I smiled, a shaking was heard. A couple of guards holding on to their halberds behind us began to whimper.
"You wouldn't have the time to finish a chant before a halberd struck your throat," Albrecht snapped back. "I can sense your bravado, Prince. You won't start a war, and neither will your wife if you're late for supper," he smiled. "Now hand your wands over-"
"You understand that with but a single word of mine, your head will be detached from your neck, right?" I replied nonchalantly. "Be a dear, and understand when you've lost the game and need to stop playing. Nobody likes a poor loser."
Albrecht's face was crimson red with rage and fury, and as he opened his mouth to speak, I did the same.
"Agnes."
The next second, the halberds that had been coming for my back were all shattered by the thundering slicing motion of a longsword, which cleaved through them all with surprising ease as the Chevalier covered the distance from Louise's side to mine in less than the blink of an eye.
"Your highness-might I suggest not angering the man further?" Agnes retorted hotly as my men unsheathed their swordwands as one, and I did the same.
For his part, Julio ended up jumping against a nearby wall, both hands raised in a sort of please don't hurt me I'm too pretty to die form, but it was clearly just an act to get people to ignore him.
"Now for my next trick of magic," I said as I pointed my wand forward, right at Albrecht.
The other nobles hadn't remained idle though, and they too had unsheathed their wands. Funnily enough, the Tristanians were divided on whom to point their wands at, so while half had them pointed in our direction, the other half had them pointed at the Germanian side. In turn, the Germanian side had done the same.
The guards didn't know what to do, needless to say.
"We are going home," I said most calmly. "And if you are wise, you will see this for what it is. A ploy by someone else to make us fight one another," I kept speaking, even as I inwardly hoped Raven would be fast enough. "Probably to get me to kill you, all things considered."
"You, kill me? I am not just a hefty drinker!" Albrecht roared, holding up his wand. "I am the hottest flame in Germania! The Scorcher! You think a puny wind like yours scares me?! You only faced cowards and weaklings! Germania is not Albion! Ours are the fires of Halkeginia! Ours the hottest ovens! You will-"
My vision shared itself with that of Raven, and this time, I smiled.
"Third tree on the left from the window, cloaked figure standing on the tallest branch," I spoke.
I spoke plainly, and as I did so the Emperor turned sharply to look outside the windows like half of the nobles gathered did in turn. With a thundering cawing, Raven's talon slammed home in the figure that had stood until then in silence upon the tree itself, and as it hastily made to turn and run away, the windows of the palace shattered as a volley of fire left it.
Raven flew off quickly, but the cloaked figure wasn't that lucky.
Not that it needed luck, because as the fires burned the cloak, they suddenly ceased, smothered by an unseen wind.
The figure made a hurried retreat the next second, even though the Emperor's screams to catch the assassin echoed in the night.
Inwardly, I sighed in relief.
If there is no visible monster for the paranoid man to face...
...then just give him a puppet to pursue.
Lacking the puppet, a trained knight of the North Parterre willing to work for hefty sums would suffice.
And hey, I was pretty sure Bleu could jump, run and make his way safely out of whatever predicament he could fall into.
"Now if you will excuse us," I said hotly, "I have a home and a family to return to," I grinned and then glanced at Agnes, "You're coming with us, Agnes."
"Yes, your highness," Agnes said.
And with that, we made our exit.
Exit, stage right.
