Royal Rd, Chapter 9.

What do you want to do? You have a few options.

1. Confront Trellis and explain Hickrick is innocent, although that will put you right alongside him in the Star room.

2. Work out a way to get Hickrick out of the Star room. That would be an ambitious plan when you struggled to take on two thieves you knew were coming.

3. You take full responsibility for what happened. It is a large crowd and many liked Tom Goode. So good luck with that plan.

How did They find out about. Hickrick? There's no body, so how does Trellis know about the plot to kill the king? He'd have to know about the note… and Tom Goode is dead. Unless we were seen… But I doubt it. Those Wasps can't talk, can they?

Of course not.

Well, the Trees can. You can expect anything here. I'm finding out.

If only you and Hickrick knew about the plot and message on its way here…

Ah! Elspethe! She knew about Tom Goode being killed and the decoded note… but she didn't know about Hickrick and she wants the King dead, so why would she lead Trellis to Hickrick?

Why do you not ask her?

I'd rather not.

Then you have three other options. Do you want to roll the dice?

I don't need to. I'm going to somehow, do all of them.

All of them? You do have a sense of adventure after all! I am only sorry I will not be your guide for much longer, but it has been fun so far. I was so looking forward to the tave but…. There you go.

Yes, I’ve got to deal with the cave, the scroll and the market tomorrow… as if that’s not enough, now we’ve got a rescue mission to save a hapless tree nymph. find out what Elspethe is up to, and tell Trellis a version of the truth. It's not like I've got much on, is it? Are you sure there's nothing else you'd like to add to my ‘To Do’ List?

You set your own events in motion. It is fair to say no one else has ever had as much going on at once as you have. I hope you like multitasking. On the plus side, you might have the first scroll tomorrow. Kand you've earned and your first extraction mission. Then again… It is a tall task. The odds do not look good. Are you sure you do not want to roll the dice?

I'm going to see Elspethe. It's got to be her.

You set off determinedly back to the tavern to find Elspethe.

“It was you, wasn't it? You told Trellis about Hickrick. How did you know it was Hickrick? You know he's innocent! And after I told you the message, too. I should’ve gone straight to Trellis and you’d be on your way to the Star room, not him!”

“Keep your voice down! It's not as it looks! I've sent word to Hickrick. We’ll get him out of there.”

“How much of him will you save? He's small anyway, In the Star room, People generally leave in pieces.”

“Come over here, I don't want anyone hearing.”

You follow Elspethe to the furthest corner of the tavern.

“I needed a distraction. Hickrick was the perfect diversion to take Trellis’ attention off us. ”

“Why use the tavern at your base when you know Trellis stays here? That's just asking for trouble.”

“He isn't here all of the time, and the King never comes here. It's been a safe base for years.”

“Years? You've been trying to kill the king for years? What makes you think you'll succeed this time?”

“I haven't been in charge for long. The past leaders were week. They didn't demand total loyalty like I do. I know my members won't dare go against me.”

“And I know why.”

“Then maybe you’ll understand why I had to throw Hickrick in front of Trellis. He was onto us. When you told me the message…. That our safe house was no longer safe because it's being watched and…. the gunpowder has to come back… I mean, I don't know if that's possible in the time left… Being watched… And if our man on the inside has been found out, He'll soon give out my name and the other’s. Hickrick won’t. Well, He might give your name, but that's your problem, not mine.”

“I bet you have lots of friends.”

“You don't understand how life is here. You haven't been here long enough to know how it works. You know nothing about our history or how the king became king, or how he rules, Do you?”

“I've had a lot on my plate since I arrived. I've not had time to nip down to the local library and get up to speed on your town's history. I've been too busy trying to stay alive.”

“Maybe one day I'll give you the edited version. For now, all you need to know is most people are spies here - Not in the sense you probably understand what a spy to be. Here, most are informers. They’re paid for information. Kand for a name, a location, a tip-off.”

“So, you got paid to drop Hickrick in it? That makes it worse!”

“Yes, I got paid, but you don't understand…”

“Oh, I do. You’re a double agent. two heads, two tongues, two allegiances. That way you're always gonna be on the winning side.”

“I sell false information, harmless information. I send them on wild goose chases to help our cause and throw the sent off me and this tavern.”

“You're an Agent Provocateur! This just gets worse by the minute!”

“Most people round here do the same, getting them chasing their own tails… extra money for their families...f Feeling important... But it's dangerous. Deadly. Many end up in the river. They have no intention of paying for real information. If you go to Trellis with information about a real plot, I guarantee you'll be killed, not paid - because no one likes an informant. I knew Hickrick would be found to be innocent eventually, because there's no evidence, no body.”

“There's the note and Cipher.”

“You haven't still got them, have you?”

“I need the cipher in case it's the same for the scrolls.”

“Get rid of both if you and Hickrick want to live. It won't take long before he gives them your name. If. They find them on you, you’ll both be turned into jigsaws quicker than you can blink.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“I didn't think of that, but how did you know it was Hickrick?”

“I knew you'd been in the forest collecting herbs. Once you said the message was in code - and it had been deciphered, there was only one person it could’ve been. Hickrick lives to decode codes. He's the best there is.”

“It’s a shame your message will be the last he ever decodes. I needed him to decode my scrolls.”

“I sympathise, but we’ll get him out.”

“Good luck with that. You don't look like you have a plan to me.”

You leave Elspethe, fuming she has put you in this position. You need Hickrick. You need to get him out of the Star room whilst he is still in one piece. You need to get that scroll. You need to teach Elspethe a lesson. You need the cypher. You need help. But above all else, you need to get rid of the message and cipher - and fast.

I’ll burn them!

But you find you cannot burn them on the ground floor of the tavern. Too many people are there. You run up the stairs to the first floor. All the guest room fires have gone out. You remember Trellis’ room always has a fire going. You race to the room and reluctantly throw the message and cipher into the blazing flames. Before you can ensure they are ash, you hear someone coming. It is Trellis. You hide under the bed.

“You know, Halpar, in some ways, Tom, Goode being Killed was a blessing, but in other ways, it makes things even harder.”

“Do you believe the prisoner? He says it wasn't him.”

“They all deny everything till the instruments do their magic then they admit everything. The main thing is, Tom Goode is dead and hopefully his plot to kill the king has also been foiled.”

“Your informant... said there was a message?”

“Yes. That would be the reason for him coming here. That tells me his associates are here in Dragonsclawe. The net’s closing in on this branch, Haplar. If only we had the message…”

“We checked the tree nymph’s pockets and his home. Nothing.”

“It would be powerful evidence if we had it. If it exists, that is. We've only got our informer’s word for it there is a note at all.”

“But Tom Goode’s vanished... And you know what that means? He'll be in the river.”

“Yes, but… Tree nymphs are lethal if provoked. Why would Tom Goode take the chance if he had an urgent message for his fellow plotters? And indeed, why bring the message in person, alone?”

“Maybe he was travelling in disguise and the tree nymph didn't know who he was?”

“That's possible but I'm not sure the tree nymph is our man.”

“What does it matter if he is, or he isn't? He'll admit to being in the end. He'll serve as a warning to others. There are always others. Ambitious idiots.”

Trellis walks over to the hearth. from your hiding place you can see the fireplace clearly. not all the message has burned. Trellis is looking directly at it.

“We’ll see what the tree nymph has to say for himself. We have the time and the torture instruments to jog his memory. Let's get back there.”

They leave and you scramble back out from under the bed and push the remnants of the message into the flames with the poker.

Well, that was interesting. Trellis doesn't think Hickrick’s guilty and, he definitely saw part of the message that hadn't burned, so why didn't he snatch it out of the hearth? He said he needed it for evidence. I don't understand why he never even mentioned it to that… Halpar.

He is the head of the king’s guard. He takes great pride in inventing new torture machines for the Star room. trellis works closely with him.

I thought Trellis was a bard and local supporter of the king. Now, it looks like he's high up in the spy ring here and yet… he doesn't tick every box, does he?

Remember, in this world, even simple things have a 4th or even a 5th dimension to them. You will work it out in the end but right now, you need to leave this room and go and make more stock to sell on the market. At the same time, I suggest you try to think of a plan to rescue Hickrick.

Piece of cake!

That is what got you into this mess in the first place. That is the thing. Even something trivial or normal in reality can cause death and chaos here.

I'll have to be more careful. It's exhausting living here. Everything you do can change the whole future of this universe. I'll have to tell granddad Potts to change the algorithms or something.

It is too late for that. This universe has transcended. It lives. It exists. It chooses its own path. It is.

You might be right. Let's get things ready for market. if we have kand, we can buy spells or weapons or even some back up to rescue Hickrick. I wish we could rescue him today but I haven't thought of a plan yet and every idea I've had needs kand. I hope we sell enough to make a difference.

Hodin is with you. He will help where he can. do not forget to fill in the permit for your stall and pay for it, or you may not get a stall. You pay Sal at the tavern. He has the forms, too.

Sal seems to like forms, checklists, leaflets posters and stuff. There's loads of them all over the Tavern. I think he's a man with too much time on his hands. He's bored if you ask me.

An interesting observation from someone not known to be particularly observant.

You head downstairs to ask for a permit off Sal.

You fill it in and pay for it and are given a permit.

Then, you head over to the forge for a few hours to make as many purse clips as you can before morning. you chat to Haleburger the blacksmith as you work.

“Have you known Sal long?”

“Most of my life. He wasn't always an innkeeper, though. Far from it. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but he was once a warrior. A legend of his time, he was. He never lost a fight. Never.”

“Why did he give up that lifestyle and end up with a tavern, then?”

“He met Hedde.”

“I don't think he’s happy, he seems bored to me.”

“He is. Hedde put a stop to fights and adventures once they got married. She thinks he's let her down. She always wanted to be as well-known as Sal once was but when he stopped being a warrior people soon forgot him.”

“Do you think he might jump at the chance to relive his past?”

“I know he would, as long as Hedde doesn't find out but if you think he'll help you find your scrolls, save your breath. He won't join a quest. He lived for the fight, the danger. Treasure hunts aren't his style.”

“I have a dangerous mission in mind that might literally, be up his street.”

“All you can do is ask him. He's so bored with wiping tables he might say yes, especially if you describe just how dangerous it is. And why only he will be able to do it.”

You are not seriously considering recruiting the innkeeper to help you break Hickrick out of the Star room, are you?

Why not? He thrives on danger and misses it and I need him. He's never lost a fight.

That was when he was much younger.

I'm willing to take the risk. You don't think I should sit back and let Elspethe rescue Hickrick, do you? Look at her track record so far. She assisted the thieves in their attempt to kill me, don't forget. It was her that drugged me and she killed a member of her own gang in front of me and she went running to Trellis when I told her the secret message - and she framed Hickrick for Tom Goode’s death and made it sound like he was involved in a plot to kill the king.

You have a point, as no one knows much about her. She arrived here 12 months ago as a stowaway on a coach. Sal took pity on her and took her in. Nothing beyond that is known. She never mentions family, or her past. Have you noticed the moon shaped necklace? She will not sell that for any price. It is a highly unusual piece. She is a secretive serpent syren. They are rare as it is, and hardly ever live in densely populated areas, let alone live and work in a busy tavern like this.

Speak of the devil - It looks like Elspethe’s looking for me.

“Valda! bad news. I can't find anyone willing to help us. if it wasn't the Star room… but I can't blame them.”

“You said you’d get him out!”

“And I will, but we need help. Just us two won’t manage it.”

“I was thinking of asking Sal.”

“Are you joking?”

“No, I think he'd be great. Better than us, anyway.”

“What's your plan, then?”

“Why should I tell you? You’ll only run to Trellis.”

“I told you why I did that. I know you don't trust me, but you're going to have to.”

“I'm going to buy spells with the money I make tomorrow to help break him out of there. If we aren’t too late, that is.”

“Spells? You’re a level 1! What level 1 spell do you know that would be powerful enough to break someone out of the heavily guarded Star room?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of… a rogue market purchase.”

“Dark cobweb spells? Now I know you're mad, but… I can see it might have possibilities… oh and Sal of course. Yeah, great plan. Can't fail, can it?”

“What's your plan, then?”

“There's such a thing as ‘Angel whispers. I start a conspiracy that everyone believes and word quickly spreads… and then who knows what's true and what isn't? Blur the lines of fact and fiction and nothing makes sense. It'll send Trellis and his attack dogs into a spiral of wild goose chases all over the place.”

“How will you do it though?”

“Easy. I’ll write a fake message in an easy to crack code that they ‘find’.”

“So, they’ll think it's the missing message?”

“Yes.”

“But, didn't you already tell Trellis what the real message said?”

“No, don't be silly. I told him some of it, just enough to sound authentic, but I didn't mention the king’s due a day early. I'm not stupid.”

You hear hammers striking nails outside the tavern.

“What's going on?”

“That’ll be the gallows builders. Hickrick’s days are numbered - unless both our plans work.”