The Princess and the Blade

[Soran Nightblade]

Havitharon blinked and withdrew his hand as the illusion fell apart. He stared at Laurius in startled silence, a hint of confusion nagging him as the face above him changed, but that expression that felt like a memory of pain remained the same. He was grateful when the man stepped away, giving him time to process reality. Guilt prickled at his drawn nerves. He had known this wager would abuse his body, but he hadn't planned to reach such a low state. He couldn't be of help to Laurius with his body like this.

He sensed footsteps again by the door and turned his head, only to make direct eye contact with the child. He froze, unsure what to make of her presence. She had been too frightened to step out of her room before. Did she need something? He propped himself up on one elbow, wincing slightly. "Are you... alright?" he rasped.

[Emora Deen]

The child’s one eye assessed Havitharon. The look on her face seemed to convey worry, but Laurius couldn’t understand why she would be worried about her supposed new master. Then, she said, “I go back?”

Laurius shook his head. “Not yet. We are still paying for you.”

She pursed her lips and pointed to Havitharon. “He dying?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi shook his head - carefully. The room spun a bit. "I will be fine in the morning. You will never go back. Okay?"

[Emora Deen]

Lee’s frown deepened. She mulled over words, feigning to touch her injured eye. It looked red and angry around the edges of the bandage. “He doesn't lose.”

Laurius touched Lee’s shoulder. She jumped, but stilled just as fast and made herself small. He steered her toward the door. “He isn’t well. Let him rest.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi blinked the blur from his vision as Laurius steered the child out. "I am sorry." He flexed his hand in front of his face, studying the sluggish muscles. "You were right. I should not have let things go this far. How did you carry me back?"

[Emora Deen]

Laurius closed the door behind Lee. “Oberin paid some men to help me carry you back,” Laurius said, and winced as he remembered how he had talked to Oberin as he left. He knelt back next to Havi and started unraveling the bandages to wrap the wounds he could manage. There were not enough bandages for the whole of all the punctures littering the alien.

“I bet Ren and Tenara are eating their fill of chocolates and taking hot baths,” he said, trying to steer the injured creature to more pleasant thoughts.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi caught the man's hand, halting his futile attempt to bandage his arm. Laurius's obvious attempt to cheer him only put a pit in his stomach. Something seemed wrong, and Havi was either too dizzy or too ignorant to grasp what it was. "Did something else happen? What did it cost you? He charged you, didn't he?"

[Emora Deen]

“We will find out later what it costs,” Laurius whispered. “And if it is too much, it won’t be because of you. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

All of this was a bad idea. All of it. Laurius felt the walls closing in around him, and the urge to run away and forget about the Black Sisters and the book was intoxicating. He was good at running.

“I’ll come up with a solution, but I don’t think you should go back in that ring. He doesn’t care if you die, Havitharon. We should stall somehow until the sisters come, grab the book, and flee with the child.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi leaned heavier on his elbow. Damn it, his muscles were already getting tired. He focused on Laurius's face in confusion. He'd expected the man to be angry with him, to curse him out for taking on unnecessary risks and endangering their plan. But Laurius Marr wasn't blaming him.

"To be honest, that plan sounds fine to me. I would not lose sleep, even if I stabbed that man in the street and left him for dead," Havi said. "I have mixed up the plan too much already. From here on, I will act on your call. As long as the girl does not end up back with him."

[Emora Deen]

Laurius nodded. “I am surprised he sold her,” he said. “For someone with such an important task from the Queen, to trap the spirit of her dead son, a girl who can see them would be useful. I’ve never known him to be so foolish.” He frowned when he came to the end of the bandages. “Rest. Even if you find you bounce back quickly, pretend otherwise. We’ll keep you out of that arena.”

Laurius tucked the blanket around Havitharon’s shoulders like he was a boy. “I need to take a look at the girl’s eye…” And he needed to get himself some sleep. He hadn’t slept before the fight, and now it was just a few hours short of sunrise—not that you could tell in this awful place with its awful smoky sky.

He fished in his pocket for the rock the sorceress woman had given him that allowed them to communicate—if she deemed it alright. He doubted Tenara was on the other side, but perhaps it would bring Havi comfort, as it had brought him earlier. “Hold onto this for a little, and think of her. In a day or two, maybe the sorceress will let you speak to her.” He folded Havi’s hands over the smooth stone. “Don’t start hallucinating and talking to that woman, just hold it. Don’t lose it, either.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi felt the cool weight of the stone in his hands. "Alright." His foggy mind followed the other man's footsteps as he rose and left the room.

*God, I have made a mess of everything.*

His frustration left his lips as a sigh, and as the air flowed out of him, exhaustion pulled him down into darkness.

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

Artisuren stopped beside Vladimir Dracul as one of his aides came up to them. "Kingsoul, excuse the interruption, are you in a rush?"

Ren recognized the aide as Marchil Tudic. The man seemed to take his work very seriously, but the region he oversaw seemed to have frequent natural disasters.

"I'm joining Tenele for lunch," Vlad said. "Court hours have just ended. Can it wait for tomorrow morning?"

"It can, but it's regarding the matter of the new wells in Upper Skah. The dry season is expected early, and they hoped to break ground tomorrow. They just need to know if the funds from the crown are approved."

Vladimir Dracul's eyebrow twitched, a sign that he was either annoyed or struggling to remember something. "Alright, what was..."

Ren wagered on the latter. "The petition was for 4,250 gold. The previous well was built 82 years ago and ran dry after last year's earthquake."

Dracul glanced at Ren. He didn't seem surprised by the man's memory anymore. After all, it was the reason he kept bringing him along with him to Court. "We spent less on Darbi's well last week, did we not?"

"Darbi was grated 3,800 gold. However, due to bandit activity and organized crime in that region, the cost of materials is said to be higher in Skah.

Vladimir crossed his arms at the aide. "Well? I know you brought it here with you."

The man sheepishly pulled the proposal and a pen out of his vest and held them out to Dracul with a deep bow. "Thank you, Kingsoul."

Vlad scanned the document and signed it.

As he was about to hand it back, Ren noted, "There was another signature line on page five. A permit to exceed standard labor limits."

"That permit is declined," Vlad said pointedly to the aide. "My thoughts on this are known. This grant is more than enough. Hire the correct number of laborers for the job. No one is to work more than 50 hours in a week, and breaks must be given. If I hear about foremen exploiting laborers in order to pocket leftover funds, I'll use their bodies to fill the old well. For safety reasons, of course." He smiled darkly.

"I assumed, sire. I will make it clear to the foremen." The man bowed profusely and shuffled off with his paperwork.

"That mind of yours truly is quite convenient," the vampire acknowledged Ren as they continued toward the kitchens.

"It is good that it can serve some use," Artisuren said. "If you are going to lunch, Sire, may I be excused?"

Vlad didn't miss the edge of discomfort in the man's tone. He was used to servants fearing or disliking him, or at least he had been in Ighten, so he didn't think much of the man's wariness. "Again? Do you ever eat?"

"I do, Sire. In my quarters."

"Well, do as you like."

Ren bowed and waited for the vampire to leave before finally turning back toward the guest quarters where he had been given a room. He shut the door and locked it. There was a small bucket of ice on the table, as he'd requested. He used his hands to scoop some of it into a leather pouch, then dropped into a chair and put it on his head.

The headaches were always most bothersome around mid-day. Maybe his body just wasn't acclimated to the heat here yet. Their benefit was that the dull pounding helped him not to think too much. He sighed and melted into the chair, and wondered what the princess was doing.

[Emora Deen]

“Are you coming, darling?” her mother’s voice came from the side, soft and curious.

Tenara couldn’t see her. Her eyes were closed to the midday sun above her, as she lay on the soft patch grass turf in her little corner of the garden.

“I’ll stay,” she said, sighing. “I’m too comfortable.”

“There’s a monkey on your head, sweet one,” her aunt muttered. “How comfortable can it be?”

“She’s also too comfortable,” Tenara replied, noting how the light weight on her forehead shifted only a little as she tilted her head.

She knew her mother and aunt hadn’t left. She could almost feel the concern and judgement burning in their eyes. Another skipped meal. But, they didn’t try and guilt her toward the dining room, at least. She listened to the sound of their feet shift across the grass, and their shoes along the stone path, until she was alone.

Well, as alone she could get with a monkey on her head and two guards lurking around her quiet corner.

They were always there. Even though she had magic enough to destroy half the castle, both her father’s insisted she have armed escorts around the clock, just in case someone managed to get a bind around her neck again. Twice stolen was enough evidence, apparently, that she couldn’t protect herself, so there would be no risking a third. Especially when they were going to war.

Tenara blinked her eyes open, looking up at the small, juvenile squirrel monkey she’d befriended a few days ago with dried fruit. She’d coaxed it down from the tree, and it seemed to look for her whenever she came to the garden now—which was often. “Do you want to come in with me?” she asked, sitting up. The monkey hopped down to her shoulder, curling little hands against her cheek and in her hair. She stood up, pulled on her shoes, and headed inside where the shade greeted her. The guards were on her heels, but distant enough that she didn’t feel claustrophobic.

She passed servants and aids, advisors and nobility. The first time she’d been taken, they had greeted her back hesitantly before quickly morphing into how things had always been—as if she’d never left. That was not the case this time. Tenara often had to stop herself from looking down and searching for a sign around her neck, or markings of abuse shimmering like paintings on display, because they looked at her as if they could see every secret. Maybe because, this time, their king was taking their sons to war for what had happened.

Tenara ignored the whispers and eyes and curled her hand around the pendants she wore—one was Havitharon’s horn and the other was Ren’s amulet.

At the door to her room, the guards stayed behind, but at night, one of them would take up roost on the balcony.

Her room was quiet and cool, with a soft breeze blowing through the curtains. Colonel, Laurius stray cat, was sunbathing on a patch of sunlight spilling in from the balcony windows onto her bed. He cracked his scarred eye open and looked at them, but don’t seemed interested or bothered by the monkey’s appearance. Colonel had adapted extremely fast to the pampered lifestyle of a princess’s cat.

The door to her left used to lead to the adjoining room that Havitharon had “occupied”, but now it belonged to Ren.

“Would you like to meet my friend?” Tenara asked the monkey. “He’s very nice.”

Tenara went to the door and pressed her hands and ear against the wood, listening. Then, she knocked gently. “Ren? Are you in?”

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren twitched upright, the satchel falling from his face into his lap. He was on his feet before Tenara finished asking after him, rushing to the adjoining door. "Princess," he greeted breathlessly. It was hard to conceal his relief at her visit. Then he raised his eyes and noticed the creature on her shoulder. He blinked and went still. "Do you need assistance?" he asked cautiously, trying to gauge what powers the unfamiliar creature had and how dangerous it was.

[Emora Deen]

“Do I…?” Tenara blinked and looked sidelong at the small creature hugging itself to her face. “Oh, no. This is a friend I made in the garden…” She scratched the monkey beneath its eat as she spotted the ice bag in Ren’s chair. “Is your head bothering you again?”

[Soran Nightblade]

"A friend?" Ren canted his head at the creature. If it was a friend of the Princess, he should address it appropriately, but he couldn't identify its gender. "I am Artisuren. It is an honor," he spoke formally, bowing to the monkey.

He followed Tenara's gaze to his ice, flushing at her consideration of him. "It was a warm day," he posited, unable to deny her inquiry. "Your father had much to do at court. May I serve you and your friend some wine?"