PART III - THE CIPHER

Vanis looked around, noticing again that the garden was empty. “Captain, we can go sit, since everyone is elsewhere today.” As Lena warily made an escape, the other two found a convenient shady spot in the garden on a pair of benches.

“Now, Captain, how may I help you. You have orders?”

“I do, Sire,” Huvaen said, reaching under his light armor. He stood, pulling out a leather letter sleeve just large enough to hold a few folded papers and stiffening formally. “I have been charged by King Feldwin in person with placing this cipher directly into the hands of Prince Vanis del Montano. May I present to you my charge, Sire?”

“You may, Captain,” Vanis said, speaking formally as he stood.

“Portcullis.”

“Um, give me a moment … Ah, it’s ‘wellspring’.”

“Terminous.”

“Er … ‘lionhearted’,” Vanis replied. Then he added in apology, “I’m afraid I may be a bit rusty on the correct countersigns after five weeks.”

“Nevertheless, thank you for the confirmation,” Huvaen said, the word challenge satisfied. “My charge, Sire. Once you have read it, I am to answer any questions I am able, and return with all haste with a ciphered response.”

Vanis bowed his head, formally accepting the sleeve. “I thank you for your speed in traveling here, and thank you again for indulging my duties and the delay they caused.”

After placing the letter into Vanis’s hands, Huvaen pressed his fist to his chest and bowed his head, before gesturing towards a spot on the other side of the garden. “I will give you some space. I am sure you will have questions. Take your time. If you need to be alone for a while, I understand.” The Captain’s tone sounded a little ominous.

Sitting, Vanis opened the pouch, withdrawing an envelope with a red, wax seal, which was unbroken. Embossed into the wax was the signet stamp of his father, the King. Carefully, and with trepidation, Vanis broke the seal, removing a few sheets of off-white paper. He began to read.

Huvaen did not know the exact contents of the letter, but he knew what it was about. He’d held off pressing the issue about giving the Prince the cipher, knowing that it was going to be an emotional read. The last thing Vanis needed going into a combat situation was more of a distraction, and while the message was important, nothing would change because of the delay of one day. As he watched, the look on the Prince’s face grew first pale and then grief stricken, and the Captain’s heart broke. Then, as expected, it turned angry.

Vanis looked up, his head feeling both faint and fiery. There was only preliminary details in the letter, but the implications were clear nonetheless. Huvaen was right, he needed to be alone, at least for a short time.

Looking towards some movement, he saw Pixyl leaving Ogre House, clothed again and rushing off at speed, probably chasing after Callie to find Olin. That would provide some space. He stood, walking over to the Captain, who rose to meet him.

“My condolences, Your Majesty.”

“Th-thank you. I … I need some time to ruminate on this news.”

“I understand.”

“The house is empty now, and will offer me some privacy. May we speak in one hour?”

“Of course, Sire.”

Turning, Vanis walked across the garden, simply focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and not being seen faltering. Huvaen knew what was going on in his head, and would understand if he broke down. But despite his designation here as simply a recruit, he was still the Prince, and no others could be allowed to see it.

Entering Ogre House, Vanis mechanically closed the door behind him, still in a daze, and moved to sit on the edge of his bunk. So far, no tears had come, and with the accompanying anger, they may not any time soon. But if or when they did, that needed to happen in solitude. He looked down, uncrumpled and then smoothed the letter, before beginning to read again.

“You!” Callie growled, exiting the latrine to the sound of rushing water. Her hair was back in pigtails and she was tucking her clothes straight as she glared daggers at Vanis.

With a shock, the Elf looked up. He had assumed he was alone. He tried to contort his face back to, at minimum, neutrality. “Callie,” was all he could say as an acknowledgement, and that came out as almost a croak.

“You couldn’t have waited just one more minute? I was this close!” Callie said with a grouchy snarl, holding out a thumb and forefinger. “How do you not have the sock-on-the-doorknob rule in this world? Pixyl’s absolutely mortified.”

“My … my apologies for the intrusion,” Vanis said nearly automatically. “It was not …” his voice trailed back as the letter called him again.

“Oh, she will be fine … eventually” Callie said with a sigh, waving off the incident as she walked back to her bunk. Then she stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“Pardon?”

“Something’s wrong, Vanis. I can see it on your face.” She looked and saw the letter he was holding. “Is that what that Captain guy brought? What happened? Something happened, right?”

“It’s nothing,” Vanis said, donning an obviously fake smile. “Simply kingdom affairs.”

“Hey,” Callie said, warming her tone, dropping any sense of anger for being interrupted with Pixyl. “Vanis, really, what happened? Something bad?”

He wasn’t sure why, but those big eyes somehow made saying it safe, even if saying it made it real at the same time. Vanis swallowed and let it out. “My grandfather and great-grandfather are dead.”

----------------------------------------

“What? What happened?” Callie gasped, legitimate horror on her face.

“At the time this was written,” Vanis began, holding up the papers, “little was known. Some mysterious and incurable illness. They both died within hours of each other, though.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“This is your father’s dad, and his father, right?”

Vanis nodded. “Correct, the King Regents; the former kings and still advisors to my father.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“A formal proclamation will be made before long, but my father wanted me to know as soon as possible.” Vanis held up the letter. “There’s more, though.”

“More bad news? Isn’t that enough?”

“They both were visiting Queen Nemina, the Legacy Queen of Cillisant, the north kingdom. It was an informal visit between our King Regents and her’s, with no official agenda; just keeping up good relations. Nemina has always been a great ally, and our relationship with Cillisant is quite peaceful and has been for over a century.”

“I assume her Regents didn’t get sick?”

“Correct. Only my grandfather and great-grandfather seemed to come down with this strange illness. They went from being in perfect health to failing within a half-day, and by morning were comatose and died a few hours after, perhaps thirty minutes apart. No magical healing or curative measures were effective.”

“So whatever this was, they got it at the same time,” Callie said, stating the obvious.

Vanis nodded, his gaze returning forlornly to the letter half-crumpled in his hand.

“Didn’t someone try to blame this Queen Nemina for trying to give your dad the Curse?” Callie asked, remembering that first night when Vanis explained how he had been Conscription Cursed.

Vanis replied with a nod. “She swore she knew nothing, and offered herself for Truthseeking. Our Scryers found her to be truthful.”

“This … this can’t be a coincidence, though, can it? Could your grandpas … They could have been murdered, right? Poison, maybe?”

“My father, and the Chief Spymaster, have no doubt they were, and that their deaths and the Curse attempt are somehow linked. Nemina swears again she knows nothing, and has once again offered to undergo Truthseeking, but I simply cannot believe she could be even involved.”

“So … another attempt to frame her, then? To stir up trouble between the two kingdoms?” Callie asked, her mind already starting to place pieces of evidence on an imaginary bulletin board.

Vanis nodded, but then shook his head in simple disbelief. “Honestly, Nemina is more than an ally, but also a good, personal friend of both my father and myself; of our whole family for that matter. When I was younger, there was even talk about her and I being married. We liked each other well enough as teens and courted briefly, but we were young and eventually her eyes fell on another. Still, I would trust her absolutely implicitly.”

“What changes with your Regents being gone?”

“With the King Regents dead, and me out of the line of succession, if my father were to fall somehow, the Parliament would name a regent for my sister until she came of age.

Callie hopped up to sit on her footlocker, facing Vanis and putting on a thinking expression. “It sounds like someone’s coming for your family’s throne,” Callie said idly, connecting things on her mind-board with string, like in the movies. “Why would anyone do that? Power and money maybe?”

“That makes no sense, Callie. The Legacy Kings don’t really have power any more. We haven’t since the Slaver Wars. It’s all ceremonial and advisory. We have no authority to make law, although we may propose law directly to the full Parliament for vote, which none of the Legacy Kings ever do. We purposely stay out of the politics. As for money, the family does have personal wealth, but nearly all the lands and estates are held in conservancy by the Kingdom, they do not actually belong to the royal family. The power and money is largely an illusion, and that is by design.”

“When you put it that way, you're right, it doesn’t make much sense.” To have some kind of a comparable reference, Callie pondered in her head why a fictional someone might want to go through the effort to seize the British throne, given it was also largely a ceremonial position. The English Royals had money, she knew that, but there were far easier ways to simply steal money. “Could it be personal?”

“It’s possible,” Vanis conceded with a shrug.

“Who’s important and hates you? I mean, it’s pretty bold to kill off two King Regents at once, but getting you removed from the line of succession? That took planning and influence, right? Attacking your father with the Curse? Same thing. It seems like someone is playing a long game. Who would want to see your family suffer?“

“That list is longer than you might imagine,” Vanis said with a sigh. “But, that is where our Spymaster is beginning her investigation, while trying to find common threads in all that has happened.” He held up the letter, indicating where he’d learned that information.

Callie huffed. “Figuring out who benefits would be where I’d focus. I’d start by looking at whoever pushed the law to remove you as heir,” she said with a scowl. “Or who might be chosen to be Regent for your sister, if your dad was gone. Or worse, determine who would benefit if both your dad and your sister were gone. After that, see if any of them hate you. Your dad’s in danger, and so is your sister. You see that, right?”

“You raise good thoughts, there,” Vanis said. “I’ll mention them in my reply, although I’m sure the Spymaster is looking into those things, and many other leads. You’re right, though, the motive may be the key. You’re also right that they are both in grave danger. Alena, at least, should really be taken from the city and hidden away for her own protection.”

Callie pondered the situation some more, her brow furrowing. “It’s all about who stands to gain, or who hates your family and is nuts enough to do all this. At least, that’s how it always is in the movies. Thankfully, this Queen Nemina doesn’t sound like a Cersei Lannister. She was a real bitch.”

“Who?” Vanis said with a laugh.

“Story character that would basically do anything to get power. Hot actress, though.” Callie waved the reference away as unimportant.

“Ahh.” Vanis said, looking again at the letter in his hands, his face withdrawing.

It suddenly occurred to Callie that they had both instantly gone into trying to figure out what happened, completely glossing over the fact that Vanis had just lost two close family members. She slipped off her footlocker and walked over to her friend, putting her hand affectionately on his leg. “So what’s next? For you, I mean? Maybe go back to Imor to be with your dad? Or for the funerals at least? What’s the official story going to be?”

Vanis shook his head and held up the crumpled letter. “My father ordered me to stay here, to let whoever is behind what is happening continue to think I’m not a threat, and likely because he thinks I’m safer here. He’s probably right in both those assessments. As for the public cause of death? I’m not sure. It’s being kept secret for now, but will officially be made to appear as something innocuous. There will be a proclamation in about a week, and then a kingdom-wide day of mourning, perhaps two, in about a month.”

“People will believe that? They won’t blame Cillicent or their queen?”

Vanis shrugged. “Some might, assuming the official word even mentions they died there. It may not. The people don’t know about the Curse being targeted at my father, either, as the official story is that I was chosen by lottery. As a result, they won’t see the pattern. Ultimately, most people won’t care; it doesn’t affect their lives, after all. It’s not like we would ever go to war with another kingdom, especially with the Demon threat to the south.”

“You know,” Callie began, “I told you this before, and I suspect you’ve never really believed me, but I mean it. I want to help with this, if I can. Seriously! If you need to ride into Imor to fight for the throne, I’m going to be by your side. I owe you everything.”

“I have a feeling if I told you no, you’d still come with me, wouldn’t you.”

“Damn right I will! Although, I suppose I should learn how to ride something, in that case.”

Vanis laughed, remembering back to Callie bouncing haphazardly when riding on Artemis the day before. “For now, I must play my part, and perhaps be a little more wary than I was before this. Besides, ranking to Gold will make me far more capable if the need should ever arise.”

“For both of us,” Callie agreed. Then she softened her face. “I’m so sorry about your grandparents. If you need to talk, or anything, I’m right here. I mean it.”

“I appreciate your condolences, Little One. They were both good people, and will be missed by many, including myself. Yet, despite the sadness for their loss that I feel, the smoldering anger at what has happened will last far, far longer.”

“Then I guess I need to go talk to the Herdmaster and learn how to ride something,” Callie said with a mischievous grin.