Rastari burst out laughing at the First Prince’s muttering, “Ah, Prince Elantro, he makes an excellent point there. You can do better.” His grin faded. “The humans you rule over deserve better than what they’ve been given, which is nothing. You have riches and jewels in abundance. The nobles of the city have more food and more luxury than they could ever need. Stop hoarding your wealth and take care of your people.”
“I will consider your suggestions,” the First Prince replied, abashed and uncomfortable. Then he straightened his shoulders and said, “But for now, we should focus on the tasks at hand. We have the wedding ceremony planned for three days from now, and I made sure there was no noble house left off the guest list. As it stands, this will be the largest event we’ve held in the Palace since my father’s coronation.”
“Perfect. That’s exactly what I was hoping for.” Rastari’s grin returned. “As you probably noticed, Falyn is keeping the fact that he can speak hidden from everyone but the people in this room. We need to keep it that way for now. I assume the maid and the magic man can keep that a secret?”
Lord Erris immediately answered, “Of course. That’s why I cast a sound barrier. So that only we would know what was said here.” He sounded a little indignant in his response.
“A sound barrier to keep people from listening doesn’t keep people from talking about it later, now does it? Forgive me for wanting to confirm we are all in agreement that this will stay between us,” Rastari replied with a hint of impatience.
“We will keep your confidence, Lord General,” Amelie assured him. “We all want the same thing. Lord Erris, he doesn’t doubt your skills, nor is he accusing you, he simply wants to be sure. In spite of appearances, he is actually quite cautious, and understandably so. Just as we have little reason to trust them, they have little reason to trust us. However, we’ve all agreed to work together, so we need to make that our reason to trust each other.”
“Agreed,” the First Prince added, “We all want the same thing, so let's try to trust each other a little. I'll start by telling you what we've learned, but unfortunately, I don't have much. We sent people to the villages under various guises to dig up information about the attacks. In each case, the women were attacked in their homes. In the beginning, if the woman had a family, they'd kill the family first and leave their bodies behind for us to find."
My stomach dropped. “In the beginning?” I asked hesitantly.
“In the beginning,” he confirmed. “Towards the end, they took the children too. The youngest victim was only seven. She was one of the last to be found before the war started. The things they did to that child…” The First Prince shuddered and didn’t continue.
“Then we need to make sure that justice is done,” Rastari said quietly, his voice cold and merciless. “That’s why we need proof.”
“Our investigations have turned up nothing we can use to prove what Julien claims,” the First Prince lamented, “No clues, no evidence. If there was any, it was destroyed when the bodies were disposed of. No one could tell us anything new and most of the villages had no way to keep records. Generals, please tell me you have some kind of plan.”
“It’s hard to have a plan when all we have is the word of one individual,” Rastari commented, “so I don’t know what you’re expecting. You had three moon cycles to get us some sort of evidence, but you provided us with nothing. I’m not sure if your investigators are that incompetent or if the Duke’s men were that smart.”
“They wouldn’t have known what they were looking for,” I interjected softly. “Ras, Vrayna doesn’t have people who can use magic to investigate, nor is there any cooperation between the villages. Besides, bad things happen to commoner women all the time. There was no reason to believe that the simplest answer wasn’t the right one. They wouldn’t have wasted resources investigating it further. I don’t think it’s right, but you can’t blame His Highness for that.”
“Did you hear what you just said? Bad things happen to commoner women all the time. You excuse their lack of attention by pointing out your nobility's lack of concern for its people. Bad things shouldn't be happening to these women all the time. This whole system is corrupt to its core. Your Prince might not be the one to blame for all of it, but he is as indoctrinated as the rest of you in his belief that only some people matter.” Rastari was growing more heated by the moment. I regretted butting into the conversation. I had a feeling I’d only made things worse.
“If I may?” Amelie’s voice sounded, halting our discussion. “General Rastari, nothing you have said is wrong. You are correct that it is a corrupt system that favors some while neglecting others. His Highness does realize that and he is doing his best. But overturning the entire system before he’s even taken the throne is impossible. Falyn wasn’t trying to excuse the injustice, he just wanted you to understand why there was no progress. And Your Highness, please know that the General’s words come from a place of compassion. He cares that our people, human people, are suffering.”
Amelie’s words gave everyone pause. Better than anyone, she understood how they all felt, and though she held the lowest status, her words were heeded by the First Prince.
“Your little empath is right. Let’s move on from this and think about what we can do from here,” Rastari conceded, “We have a witness but nothing that can prove what he says. So I guess Falyn will have to be extra convincing.”
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The way Rastari looked at me as he said that made me nervous. He seemed to have complete faith in my abilities, but I feared that his faith was misplaced. I could barely speak at all, let alone convincingly. But I could speak to the truth. That didn't mean anyone would listen to me though.
“I have an idea as to what we can do to make that part a little easier,” Lord Erris suddenly spoke up. “What we need is something dramatic to catch their attention. I have known His Highness, the Second Prince, as long as I’ve known my dear boy Elantro here, and I think I have a fairly strong understanding of his character. What we need to do is make him think he has the upper hand so that he can set the stage for us.”
“And how would you propose we do that?” the First Prince inquired, looking intrigued.
“Well, at this juncture, what would be the most damaging piece of information that His Highness, the Second Prince could discover?” Lord Erris responded, looking to us for the answer.
“The fact that he can speak would be the obvious answer,” Coraggio said consideringly. “The element of surprise is the only thing we have working for us right now.”
“You’re not wrong, but there’s something else we could use that would incite him more, without giving up that advantage,” Lord Erris replied and looked to the rest of us. He was clearly waiting for a certain answer, but I had no idea what it would be.
“The only other secret we have is that Falyn and I knew each other before,” Andrian offered, “but how could Prince Eduard knowing that possibly help us?”
“He is convinced that Falyn must have tricked him somehow and that would be proof of it. Besides, not only was it illegal to cross the Borderlands, but think of the implications one could make with a little imagination. A boy who knowingly broke the law by entering the Beastlands disappeared after his mother was murdered by beasts. Then he reappears years later as the Duke's son, having ‘volunteered’ to be married into the Beastlands. It only takes a little assumption and suddenly Falyn has been conspiring with the beastmen all along,” Lord Erris explained, looking pleased with his own cleverness.
“Very interesting,” Shidah mused, “I think the magic man is onto something. He’s correct that an outsider could view the situation as such, but the question is whether or not Prince Eduard will think the same as Lord Erris here, and if he does, what he'll do with that information.”
“My brother is the type to expose it publicly. He would use it as an excuse to rally his supporters and gain new ones. I expect he would reveal it at the wedding or at the banquet afterwards,” the First Prince advised, sounding confident in his answer.
I was inclined to agree with him on that. The Second Prince was unassuming at first glance, but he had many supporters and they would all be present at our wedding. I still didn't understand how a man with so little charisma had managed to create his own faction. His motives were an enigma to me as well. He claimed to not covet the throne, but why else would he do all this?
Unless he was innocent of my father's crimes. Was it possible that he genuinely believed the beastmen were responsible for those deaths? It was something worth considering. From what I had seen, he was a cruel man who enjoyed making those beneath him suffer, but that didn't mean he was my father’s accomplice.
“Then we need to find a way to get that information to him,” Rastari announced, his grin returning to his face.
“Um, excuse me mister Prince man sir,” Vargas suddenly said, “but I think I’ve got an idea for that part.”
“We could use an idea, but before that, who are you?” the First Prince asked, seeming to realize for the first time that there was someone in the room with us.
“I’m Vargas, mister Prince man sir. Falyn’s personal guard,” he answered with a proud grin.
The First Prince looked him up and down. He didn’t seem all that impressed by my self proclaimed guard. “His personal guard.” It was a statement not a question. “Julien, have you become such an important person in the Beastlands that they gave you your own personal guard?”
“I'm no one worth mentioning. But I'm a person with a friend who was willing to follow me into enemy territory to make me feel a little safer,” I responded honestly, “Vargas is one of the few people I trust enough to rely on in a situation like this. He understands what I’ve been through better than anyone and can help if things become too much. I'm working hard to look like I'm fine, but I'm actually a mess underneath... He may not be here to guard me from physical harm, but he’s here to help me.”
“And your future husband is allowing this?” the First Prince looked doubtfully at Andrian. "Shouldn't you be bothered by that?"
“Why would I be bothered?” Andrian asked him, genuinely confused by his words. “My mate can't always rely on me alone. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us. I trust both of them, so it’s not an issue.”
“Uh, mister Prince man sir, you seem to be misunderstanding something,” Vargas volunteered, “me and Falyn are friends. Friends, you know, people who spend time together. Nothing funny.”
The First Prince seemed to realize he’d made a mistake, though I doubted he understood what it was. “Very well, I see I misunderstood. My apologies. Well, you said you had an idea. I’m willing to listen.”
“Well, it’s pretty simple. I can guarantee you that your brother thinks pretty low of me and would expect me to do something stupid. So I'll just have to live up to his expectations. I’ll go blab about their past to someone in a place with lots of people around and use zero discretion. I’m just a stupid beast who doesn’t know any better, right? He’d never think that I did it on purpose. As long as you’re right about what he’ll do with the information, then we'd have a terrible plan full of holes to work with.” Vargas finished explaining and looked at the First Prince expectantly.
“It’s not a bad idea,” the First Prince admitted. “It’s the easiest way to leak the information, and I agree that he wouldn’t expect cunning from a beastman. Generals, what do you think?”
“I’m in. Someone has to go with him so it might as well be me,” Coraggio volunteered.
No one had any objections to Vargas’s idea. It wasn’t a great plan. In fact, as Vargas pointed out, it was terrible and full of holes. But it was something to work with.