Lucid Waking

Archive for January 21st, 2008

More than Gold: End

        I went back along the passageway, being careful to listen at the door before I went through. There was no talking or commotion that I could tell, but I kept close to the ground pushing the door open and keeping my back to the wall as I went. The ringing silence hit my ears and I was almost at the third tapestry when the door opened in the opposite corner of the throne room with a bang.
        “She just disappeared,” the familiar voice of the guard said to someone.
        “We’ll find her,” another gruff voice said.
        I took the opportunity to push open the servant door, which thankfully was right where Princess Oriana had said it would be and slipped behind the tapestry letting the door close behind me silently. Also thankfully, the hinges were well used and silent. I had faith they didn’t hear anything as they were talking.
        I slipped through the passages as straight as I could. They were well lit, but strangely I didn’t run into any servants through the tunnels. I stopped at the sound of voices on one end of a passage. The room seemed quiet except for people talking, but what really piqued my interest was the sound of a name.
        “Sir Rhydderch, please, let’s not be irrational. The girl is absolutely frightened.”
        Rhydderch. Samuel Rhydderch. It wasn’t such a common last name in any of the empires and though there was a slight chance it could be another Sam Rhydderch, I highly doubted it.
        The last place I had heard that name was on a wanted poster back in Edelsburg, in a town a couple hours’ ride from where I was currently. I had chased him for avoiding the police and charges of arson, theft, and scrounging public funds. It made sense I would find him in the gold capital of the world.
        “Of course she’s frightened. She should be afraid of the king! Fear establishes power and maintains it.”
        “But is there no other way of getting the money?”
        I crept closer to the end of the passage being extra careful to stay in the shadows. I could see Samuel Rhydderch, looking just as I remembered him. The king sat at the head of the table, keeping silent this whole time and looking grave and focused. The third person in the room I could only see the back of his head, but he was finely dressed and seemed quite flustered in the way he talked. I sat down a ways from the opening so I could keep an eye on the meeting.
        “Of course not!” Sam said hitting the table “The king is now among the poorest of his subjects and this cannot continue! Besides, you need money for a larger army. Edelsburg keeps getting larger.”
        “Nonsense, Edelsburg continues to be friendly to us,” the other man said. “And the treasury is full of taxes.”
        “A daughter is no good, anyway,” Sam continued. “They cost much more than sons between dowry and always shopping for more goods, and jewelry. Women are much more costly than men.”
        It took all I had to stop myself from laughing. Disregarding the sexism of the statement, it was incredibly ironic that this man had cost the kingdom of Edelsburg hundreds of thousands of dollars almost annually before he was traced and caught. In this case, a man was much more costly than any woman I know.
        “Her gilding date is set,” the king said finally, standing up, “and I believe that’s final on the matter. You have far too many personal reasons involved in this, Lord Argyris for me to believe you have the interest of the country at heart.”
        Personal matters?
        “Please, sir, a final word with your daughter?”
        The king looked at Argyris with contempt but then waved him away with his hand. “I will allow it, but do not be there when I arrive to take her.”
        Both Samuel and Argyris bowed deeply as the king passed before glaring at each other behind his back. Samuel followed the king out while Argyris stayed behind. The door was shut thoroughly behind them before Argyris moved towards the passage. I stood up and made towards the nearest branch away.
        I managed to duck out of the way and slide into darkness before he got to the passage. He was so much into this thoughts that he walked past me without a glance and continued down the passage the way I had just come. I moved forward into the room. There was no other way to go besides the throne room and, for obvious reasons, that was not my best option. I exited the door out the hall and following the path of mirrors and statues, found the spot behind a vase of flowers where I could hide. The king’s chambers looked like they were down the hall, so I cast my luck on the fact that they would come down this path again and lead me down to the fountain.
        My gut instinct proved correct as the door opened again later in the evening and the king came through the door leading a procession of guards. His daughter was in the middle and Samuel held up the rear. I followed them at a distance, but close enough to see the path they were taking.
        Finally they came to a door with a silver doorknob and red ribbon tied around it. The king tapped it twice with his finger before stepping back and letting it swing open revealing a blue-lit stairwell before them. He continued down the stairs, everyone else following as well. I knew I had a clear shot to capture Sam and get away from here, but tying him up might make noise and if it didn’t, his absence would alert the guards.
        I followed closely behind him and down the steps into a large shimmering room designed in black with gold accents and flowers along the wall. In the center of the room was a large fountain, still spewing water that fell into gold basin after gold basin until it reached the pool below, which was large enough to be used as a public bath if it didn’t have water made of gold.
        Because the walls were so dark, I could easily hide in the shadows so long as I was quiet and I sat on the penultimate stair and watched the procedure. I was neither sure what to expect nor what to do, but watching was the first step to anything. Timing is crucial.
        Oriana was in the middle of the line and her father was at the front. As soon as he had sat down, the line of guards split to make an isle for her. Samuel was in the back of the line. She turned around, but finding the way blocked, turned back and made her way to the edge of the fountain.
        Someone started reciting something I could guess was probably a holy book. My stomach dropped as I listened like everyone else to their justification for drowning her in gold. The speaker went on and on about sin and redemption and how she must pay for what she stole, though they glossed over exactly what it was.
They lifted her by her bonds and held her up above the water. She was crying silently and no matter how sick I felt about it, I couldn’t figure out what to do. The guard was standing precariously on the edge of the water, holding one end of a rope that went through a pulley in the ceiling. I considered hitting him with something, but that would cause him to drop her in the water. Even if I came out of my hiding spot, they would drop her anyway.
        “Your majesty, there’s someone here,” Sam said.
        I looked into his eyes looking in my direction. I slunk farther back into the shadows.
        “What? Lieutenant, tie the prisoner up and go look.”
        Samuel didn’t wait for help and took a step closer to the stairs. He looked up, but whether he saw me or not, but he kept walking up them. I took out my rope and held it behind my back until he was right next to me. I swung it over his neck and pushed gently, putting pressure on his windpipe but not enough to smash it.
        He struggled against me a bit, but only managed to almost choke himself by falling down the stairs. Being merciful, I went with him as he fell. The guard who had come to help Samuel had backed up, but he was closest to where we landed in the middle of guards at the bottom of the stairs.
        There was a great commotion as people tried grabbing me, but I kept my hand on the rope and Sam as he stumbled with me to the corner of the room.
        I had no weapons save speed, agility, and brute strength. I also had my rope, but it was being used. However, if I left it, someone would come along and let him free. I dodged flying weapons and limbs, somehow holding onto the end of the rope. I probably survived it only because I was using Samuel as a shield and he was practically royalty. One of the newer guards made a step and a swing for me leaving his right side open for me to barge into him knocking him down and another soldier next to him. There was a splash and a pause as I realized where I was and what had happened.
        The water churned for a bit before returning to normal and bubbling happily with a new gold treasure in its depths. I had no time at all before I was almost hit in the head by a sword hilt, but I managed to spot it out of the corner of my eye. The guard’s sword had fallen into the water right next to him, out of my reach. I swore under my breath. The king had left his throne, not surprisingly, so I started to make my way to that hoping to tie Sam to it and then be able to use both hands to somehow win a fight against half a dozen soldiers. Well, only four, one was by the king and another I had pushed in the water. I had been in fistfights before, but what persuaded me that I could do it to four people at once with weapons was beyond me, probably the adrenaline.
Luckily Oriana was not gagged, but she had found out the hard way trying to swing to the side would only pull the rope so she was closer to the water.
        “Get him to the fountain,” she yelled over the noise. There was a loud smack and a groan from her but I didn’t lose a moment waiting.
        I pulled on the end of the rope the opposite direction and went towards the fountain. I was kicking bodies as hard as I could, trying to disarm them with whatever skills I did or did not have. I somehow managed to push someone else into the water on my way before managing to get Samuel by the edge of the fountain kicking him in the small of the back. He fell and ended up lying on the edge of the fountain only being supported by my rope. I hated to see anyone like that, even a criminal. He managed to get to his feet well enough pulling me closer to the fountain, but leaving both of us in a position that even if I got pushed in, he would go first.
        “Enough,” the king yelled. I wondered what had taken him so long.
        The guards stepped aside sheathing their weapons and making a path for the king to glare at me. I stared back. He took a step forward.
        “Who are you?”
        “Carmen Teasdale.”
        The king gave me a shocked look. “Why are you here? I didn’t think a bounty hunter would come to save a princess?”
        “I’m just here for Samuel Rhydderch, what you do with your daughter is your own choice.”
        “I see. You do know he’s under protection of law? He’s a king’s advisor.”
        “You do know what he’s done to the government of Edelsburg?”
        The king harrumphed. “What he’s done to the king of Edelsburg does not concern me.”
        “Maybe not, but if I don’t take him away alive, someone else will take him away, dead. If he’s alive, you can have a talk with the king of Edelsburg about getting him freed.”
        The king laughed. “What position are you in to make deals with me? I wave my hand and my guards will turn you into gold.”
        “At the expense of your right hand advisor. If I go, so does he.”
        The king stood a while in thought. Oriana groaned behind me, but I didn’t turn around.
        “I suppose you’ll ask then for my daughter to be set free. You’re getting too involved in ethics.”
        “I’m merely doing my job. And I never said anything about your daughter. But… there’s more than gold in the world.”
        “This coming from a bounty hunter.”
        “I do more than just get money. My job is getting tricky criminals off the streets. People get paid for their jobs. But my job does not involve helping out with family problems. I’ll leave with just Samuel and won’t bother you again.”
        “Provided I let you,” the king raised his hand and his guards started to move towards me again.
        “Well, a fight would be easier if I didn’t have a rope to hold onto,” I said nonchalantly.
        The king looked from me to his guards and put his hand down. “Fine, you may go. But tell your king I am not happy to see my advisor off.”
        I made my way towards the stairs after tying up Samuel’s hands so he could follow me all the way to Theirn in front of the castle. I gathered up my things from the guards at the front gate, who were utterly oblivious to the goings on inside. I suppose that made my escape easier. Finally armed again, I mounted my horse and tied the end of the rope to the horn of my saddle.
        “You’re walking,” I said to him. He glared at me, but I started moving.
        “You know he wasn’t really going to gild her,” Sam said. “He was getting second thoughts.”
        “That’s not our business,” I said. “Especially not yours.”
        Indentations of sand where our feet had been led out from the city and into the large expanse of desert in front of us. Though I knew we’d be there by nightfall, I felt like I still had a long way to go.