The visit – part one

Edward straightened himself while servants worked on his outfit, buckling his boots, setting his shirt and clamping the short fashionable cape around his shoulders. Hundred little details were quietly put in place. A silver brooch, owl shaped with sapphire eyes, was pinned to his chest. Pristine white shirt, with an outer dark grey coat, threaded with gold patterns along the seams, pearly buttons adorned the outfit along with a coat of arms, sewn in silver over the cape.

It was going to be one of those days.

Edward, or better to say Henrick really wanted to avoid what he was going to do next.

But a visit to Edwards mother was long overdue, and like it or not, Dorian was right about this. He couldn’t put it off any longer.

Now Edward, and yes, he was going to keep referring to himself as his fake persona, had no fear of being found out as an impostor. As far as everyone else was concerned, there were no indications that Edward was another person, and those few changes in behavior he exhibited could easily be attributed to trauma, or sudden change in perspective after his near-death experience.

From Edwards memories it was clear that he was not close to his mother, and hadn’t spent much time in her company anyway, so it was not like he was going to meet someone who knew his heart and soul and could accuse him of anything. Besides, he had enough experience at deceit that he actively fooled Dorian and his father, so that was not what was causing his discomfort.

Now, it needed to be said that Edward was not overly proud as a person. Him being in the business that he was in, it was no wonder. After all, lack of pride and loose morals were basically a hard requirement for those wishing to dabble in necromancy, let alone those who wanted to master it.

Now, with all that in mind, one should also understand that Edward did have some pride.

He was by no means above groveling at someone’s feet, or faking obedience, if that brought him closer to achieving his goals.

But, if his assumption about the character of Edwards mother Eleanor was correct, he had a hunch he was really going to dislike how low he was probably going to have to go, as far as humiliation was concerned at the very least.

As the servants put final touches on Edwards outfit, he turned to look at himself in the polished mirror on the side of the room. Seeing himself looking like a prince out of a fairytale still surprised him sometimes, but he definitely enjoyed the experience.

“Allright, that’s enough.” He said as he waved his hand to dismiss the servants. With one final check to see if he was presentable enough he turned to Samuel who waited for him by the doors.

His servant too, was dressed for occasion, but on Edwards insistence instead of exquisite suit, his guardian wore more militaristic set of clothing. Still regal and adorned, but more protected, with layered set of interlinked pieces of leather and chainmail hidden under a long black cloak.

On his hip there was a short scabbard with a silvery blade, and on the inside of Samuels cloak was a matching set of hidden blades. Edward knew Samuel would be forced to surrender the weapons once they reached Elanor’s villa. But he wanted to leave an impression that he was still weary of ambush or an assassination.

Which is why Edward was also carrying several tinctures and antidotes on his person, placed in hidden pockets of his coat and in a thin silky pouch that hung from his belt. All of it was subtly placed in such a way that it looked hidden, but would still visible to an eye of a careful observer.

After all, he had a reputation to uphold.

“Well then, nothing else to it.”

He said and walked towards Samuel who opened the door of his room and let him out on the hallway.

Samuel quietly closed the new reinforced doors behind him and followed his master, who was already surrounded by a group of royal guards.

Edwards insistence that, once again.

Edward usually had a habit of walking around with only Samuel following him, but on this occasion, he felt it was wise to bring a few more people. The guards would serve quite well as an additional protection, as well as a means of deceit and subterfuge when it came down presenting himself as being weary or afraid of an ambush.

There were some downsides to being considered paranoid but at least for today Edward deemed it necessary. As far as he was concerned, the chance that a royal prince was being poisoned for years, let alone months, without anyone noticing it was laughable. And for all that he usualy tried to present himself as aproachable and calm, there was a very real chance that it was Edwards mother that had him posioned with Lyrium, so he wanted to let her know that he didint trust her, in as many subtle ways that he could.

In truth, he didn’t trust anyone around him but he did usualy present himself favorably to almost everyone. However, there were certain inviduals that were better off steping carefully around him. Mostly the prominent figures like Adriane or Edwards mother for example. It would unnecessary complicate thingsif they thought him an easy prey, and then tried to influence him in some way.

On the other hand, some people like Edwards brother Dorian or the king he could made an excuse and remove them from the list of suspects. Since they were otherwise preoccupied or away from Kingstown while Edward was being influenced by foreign agents.

The others, he didn’t trust them one little bit.

From what he gathered so far from his acquired intel; Edwards sister Adriane was certainly involved in this case to at least some degree. It was even possible that she was the original perpetrator, or one of them at least. The gangs that smuggled Lyrium into the Kingstown were paid by her after all.

More importantly, Edwards mother, alongside at least few others should have noticed something was wrong with her son. If not her, then at least one of the spies that kept watch over royal children.

I mean, really. One of the royals getting poisoned right under the nose of the king, his consorts and all of the agents of the crown, without anyone noticing it. Not likely.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

No, Edwards mother must have noticed something. What Edward wanted to know was why she kept her mouth shut about it.

He most likely wasn’t going to get that answer anytime soon, especially not tonight, but it was something he had to keep an eye on.

Was she the one who ordered Edwards poisoning in the first place…?

It wouldn’t even be weird considering what Edward knew of the woman.

Or it might have been Adriane after all, or both of them were in it together, or it might have been someone else…

The reason “who did it” didn’t matter right now after all.

But the reason “why” someone wanted to influence the royal prince with highly magical and reactive substance… well, that answer was what he absolutely had to know, and yet it eluded him. For now, at least.

He did have his suspicions however.

That whole: “The evil god is breaking free and the kingdom is crumbling from the inside”, situation was absurdly convenient and suspicious.

Honestly, him taking over the Edwards body, the kingdom being on the verge of some sort of crisis, and the forgotten goddess breaking free from her chains…

This entire thing smelled, smelled really fishy.

Fate was meddling in this entire affair; he just knew it. Gods must have got their reasons for allowing it too. From what Henrick knew of them, it just seemed like something they would do. It was all just too convoluted to be a coincidence.

But it was all right.

Even if someone knew that Edward was an imposter it wouldn’t change much.

Because now, aside from his personal power, Edward also had leverage. Over nobles, over politics, over information… and most important of all. He had money.

And with enough leverage, power and money… well… there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

In the case this was all just one of those sick games that gods, fate or some kind of deamon were playing amongst themselves. Let’s just say they grossly overestimated their capabilities.

If there was one thing Henrick that was better at than necromancy, it was scheming. And now, now that he was in on the game, there was nothing anyone could do to stop him from winning.

But first things first, he had an evil bitch to visit.

……………

Surrounded by the guards Edward made his way out of the palace. The palace itself was a set of beautiful structures situated in the first wall of the City, where the old core of Kingstown lay.

The palace was actually a walled off section of the first ring of Kingstown, and to enter it one would first have to pass through guarded gates of the palace.

Here, separated by wide and well-kept street were many noble houses that were considered a part of the place but were not truly the singular part of the castle that was considered the palace proper.

Nobility lived here, basically within the safety of the palace walls. It was a crowded place, although beautiful and exquisite. Plethora of mansions littered the place, they were all built one next to the other with very little place left for small green gardens that separated the buildings.

The many mansions were all pressed as close to each other as possible, almost as if the buildings themselves were fighting for what little space there was between them.

Edward loved the esthetics of it all, as it quite accurately represented the lifestyle of the nobles that lived in the buildings.

While each building was unique, they all still shared the same general appearance.

Typical to the oldest buildings in the city, of all of which were built here, in the first wall of the city, these mansions too were crafted out of much darker and heavier stone.

Unlike outwards part of the city where the streets were bright and made in typical Kingstown fashion, with clear lines and only some decorations, mostly geometrical patterns carved in the stone, these older buildings were extravagant mix of architecture and sculptures.

Many steep roofs, covered in green copper, were lined with gargoyles on the intersecting barreled vaults, where old lined faces of long forgotten nobles were carved among the tracery and supporting arches of the towering buildings.

The windows were made of stained glass and depicted colorful murals that painted the street in rainbow light when the sun bathed it with its rays it in the evening.

Being located closer to the top of the mountain on which the city was built, the palace was sparse with space, so the noble mansions were built next to each other, sometimes even above or below each other, where certain parts of the architecture curved around the parts of the buildings and nestled themselves in and on the cliffs of the mountain.

It was a hectic display of architecture, extravagant and regal, and also noble in its old age, betrayed by the worn-out stone and faded faces on the sculptures that even the regular maintenance couldn’t restore.

The palace proper, where Edwards quarters were, was built somewhat higher than the old noble part of the palace. It was a huge castle in its own right, made of brighter more dense stone that displayed the immortality of the City in its own right.

Leaving the palace proper, Edward enjoyed the brief walk through the old noble part of the palace, crossing the steep winding street fairly quickly he soon arrived at the gate where he was let through without a question.

Now in the oldest part of the city, Edward followed the street downwards to the first river docks.

The influence of the noble quarter was visible here too, although to a much lesser degree.

The buildings, shielded by the first wall of the city, were also made of the same dark stone as the noble’s mansions. But were far less extravagant and were on the outward appearance, simple and functional.

This part of the city was also crowded and space was in high demand.

People, mostly nobles and rich merchants moved across the streets with purpose. Many entering in and out of the old iron doors of the buildings that housed shops, vendors and various guilds.

Edward watched the milling people as they made the deals or shopped inside the old buildings, visible through the big transparent windows.

The faint warm glow that emanated from inside the well-lit rooms spilled across the street, giving light to this shadowed part of the city, shielded as it was by the tall city wall.

Surrounded by his guards Edward had no problem getting to the gates of the first wall. Here, next to the gates that let pedestrians through was a river dock.

Well, to call it a river dock would be an insult to the rivers. But it was a dock.

It was a small dock, built on the canal that carried the waterflow through guarded opening in the city wall, right next to the stone bridge that let pedestrians pass through the gates of the wall.

Filled with water that streamed from top of the mountain and across the city this was the first canal that flowed down into second part of Kingstown.

The water flowed interrupted into the dock through grated opening at the start of the canal that was fairly small, barely wide enough for two gondolas to pass by each other.

There were no commercial canals that led to the first part of the city, since the water flow here was barely strong enough to transport few people and some expensive materials.

But as one went down into the outer parts of the city, the canals got wider, and in some places, they even split in several directions, until they reached the outer wall where the water was accumulated and drained down to the farmlands.

As this was the first dock in the city, the gondolas here were only available to certain nobles, prominent merchants or royalty.

Luckily for him, Edward qualified for at least one of the categories.

Being who he was, Edward had no problem acquiring one of the sleek boats for himself and his companions.

With enough space for several guards that Edward employed, they had no problem boarding the gondola. With a stern warning to behave, issued from a captain, a young woman dressed in purple gondolier uniform, they were off through the city wall.

Enjoying the breeze on his face Edward lay back in his seat as the boat quietly passed through the claustrophobic and dark opening in the thick city wall, slight chill passed over them while they slowly sailed through the moist tunnel.

As they neared the exit Edward squinted from the glare in the opening and the sun temporarily blinded him when they emerged on the other side.

Sunrays warmed his face and then they were out under the blue sky.

While they were quietly sailing on the ancient aqueduct that ran alongside the road, down to the second ring of Kingstown Edward was looking down, enjoying the view of the city bellow him.

His destination was not far, in the third ring of the City, and in few short minutes they would arrive to the heart of commerce, banking and trade of Kingstown, where Edwards mother made her home.