Fantasy The Clock is Ticking (Fudge&Michi)

[Michi]

When morning came, there was a quiet knock on the door before it opened and a girl stepped inside looking over at Tulio, her arms full of clothing. "His highness wishes to see you in his study this morning." She spoke quietly as she moved around the room with purpose, being careful not to disturb the sleeping Prince. Her appearance was just as neat and tidy as the rest of the maids in the castle. With her hair pulled back in a neat bun, and her dress and apron both ironed to remove any possible wrinkles. She laid the clothes out on the settee and moved to fill a baisin off to the side of the room by the dressing screen with water.

Oren didn't seem disturbed by any of the motion in the room, remaining curled up under his blanket, snoring quietly.

 

[IFudgedUp]

Tulio quickly jumped up to attack in case it was another assassin, but quickly relaxed when he saw it was one of the maids.
"Oh, uh...." He frowned and raised an eyebrow, speaking softly as well, "What does he wish to discuss?"

He watched her lay everything out in a curious look. The brunette sincerely hoped all those things were for Oren, and if it wasn't, he hoped even further that she wasn't going to dress him. He was a grown man and he could do it himself.

 

[Michi]

The maid shook her head and furrowed her brow, staring at him for a moment before speaking. "It's not our place to question The King." Her expression showed that the woman thought that would have been obvious, "I would suggest you go meet him if you'd like to find out why." The woman turned to return to her work as she moved about the room making sure that everything was perfect.

 

[IFudgedUp]

"It might not be your place to question him, but I am not a servant. I simply have a deal with him," Tulio replied stubbornly as he turned to leave the room and head off to the study.
He gave a moment to give a tired sigh before he opened the two large doors lead into the study where he spoke to the King before. He took a step in and looked around before spotting the King "You wished to speak with me, sir?"

 

[Michi]

The king looked up from where he had only taken a seat just a few minutes before. "Tulio, good morning! Nice to see you up and at 'em so early. Have you found out anything about the spy amidst the staff?" He asked with a smile as he folded his hands and leaned forward in his seat. If that were the case, it would be fairly good news.

Back in the prince's bedroom, once the assassin had left, the maid walked over to the door, and quietly locked the door before turning to face the man sleeping on the bed her hand slipping under her apron to pull out a coiled string of wire. She had two to three minutes to complete her mission. If she didn't there was a capsule in her cheek that all she needed to do was bite down on it and they would send the next.

 

[IFudgedUp]

"No, your highness, I haven't found anyone familiar or suspicious yet," Tulio frowned as he reported, "I was guarding your son through the night. If anyone was to strike, it would be when it is dark. I believe at this point, the best course of action would to be to let me keep a close eye on him until I can send word of negotiations. Speaking of, you may want to consider working on his people skills while I locate the contact. My brothers will want to know the sort of person he is to weigh if he deserves to be spared. They would not be pleased with my findings, and I'm afraid I can't lie to them."

 

[Michi]

"I see... Alright. I'll have someone work on that with him. Is that all you came to tell me?" The king asked as he sat back in his seat. "To have his people skills looked at, and that they will most likely strike at night?" Well that was a bit disappointed, why had the assassin come all this way just to give that information. Could it have not waited until later in the day.

 

[IFudgedUp]

"I thought you called me here, sir..." Tulio frowned. He was confused for a moment, but his eyes widened in realization and he quickly stood, "I have to go now."

With that, he quickly rush out of the study. Once out the door, he ran down the hall and up some stairs. He got to the door to find it locked, and began to slam into it in order to break it down. He would just quickly pick the lock if he was allowed his tools, but he had to resort to brute force for now.

 

[Michi]

The guards outside of the room raised their swords when then noticed Tulio running towards them. But he went for the door and didn't seem to pay them any mind. Both of them were suddenly alarmed when the assassin revealed the door to be locked. The two men helped using their own weight to help the man break open the door. When the heavy wood did finally give way and the door opened, the 'maid' who had informed Tulio that the king had wanted to speak to him looked disheveled. She sat behind the prince with the wire pulled tight enough against his neck it was cutting into the skin on his neck and into his fingers which tried to pull the thin piece of metal away without much success.

The woman looked up at the group of men with a glare pulling harder on the wire, cutting deeper into his neck as she tried in vain to finish the job. The prince's face had already begun turning blue from lack of air, and his head felt like it was going to explode. Dark spots were blocking out most of his vision and the last thing he heard as he began to lose consciousness was the loud bang of something breaking, which he didn't realize was the door.

 

[IFudgedUp]

Tulio didn't have time to explain or reason with them. The foreign male quickly grabbed one of the guard's swords and yelled, "RUSH HER!"

The particular method was slow and painful. The wire was sharp enough to hurt, and could strangle, but ultimately that was all. Pulling it tighter might cause serious bleeding, but probably not deep enough to server an artery.

Tulio ran with the sword in on hand, wasting no time getting at her and Oren's side and grabbing the wire between the woman's hand and Oren's neck and pulling it away; cutting his hand badly, but freeing Oren. immediately grabbed the Prince with his free arm and swung the sword at the woman. He made certain that he was in between her and the other male so she couldn't just grab him and use him as a meat shield.

 

[Michi]

As Tulio came closer, one of the other guards moved around to the other side of the bed. As the prince cord was pulled away she looked up at Tulio with a glare, moving the capsule to sit between her teeth before she bit down on it and tasted the poison spreading through her mouth quickly as she swallowed what she could. He may have been find with getting captured alive, but she would not be. A smirk crossed her face, "There will be more." She said simply. After all they all had a job to do, regardless of whatever the prince or king may have planned.

Oren hit the floor with a thud, gasping and choking as he caught his breath. Arms grabbed him and he freaked out until he realized it was just the other guard pulling him farther away from the bed. The guard looked at the woman as he spoke to the two men, "Take her alive!" He ordered as he laid Oren on the ground and more guards entered the room. Oren was trembling slightly, sure he'd had death threats but no one had ever gotten so close before! Even Tulio had gotten into the wrong room!

The tingling was already spreading through her face and mouth, and the smirk that had crossed her face moments before slipped as she felt her face start go numb.

 

[IFudgedUp]

"There's no point," Tulio stood up and handed the guard's sword back to him before looking back to the men, "I know the look on her face well. She'll be dead in a few minutes."

The brunette looked down at the Prince, and narrowed his gaze at the male, "This is exactly what I'm working to prevent. Start working on yourself, though, because the Brotherhood will not allow you to walk away as the person you currently are no matter how hard I try."

With that, he left the room to go stretch his muscles and maybe take a nap. The danger was over for now, and he had stayed up all night keeping the Prince safe.

 

[Michi]

The guards dragged the dying maid out of his room, and Tulio had gone, leaving a still reeling Oren alone in their stead. Work on himself? What was that even supposed to mean? After a while he normally picked himself up off of the floor at a loss. People really did want him dead. Actually dead.

After a few more minute his valet came into the room, a much older man, who had replaced his previous valet years ago. When he was dressed, he went back to the library, avoiding his father who kept telling the staff that he wanted to speak with Oren. He’d had a eventful morning and just wanted to be alone. Think about life, and how he had actually almost died.

 

[IFudgedUp]

Tulio went to bed and slept for a few hours before getting up again and locating Oren. He was still needing to observe the Prince, even though it was rather clear that he was not fit to pass negotiations as it was.

 

[Michi]

What did he mean work on himself? Work on what? He looked fine. He had done the lessons he needed to. He hadn't gone to many of them lately, but that could be understandable seeing as people were trying to kill him, right? His father had wanted him to start attending the meetings that he had with other noblemen as well, but he really didn't want to do that either.

His hand ran along the sore marking across his neck. The pink raised mark where the wire had begun to cut into his flesh. That had been horrible and painful... and not in the fun way either. Frowning he gazed out the window, lost in his own thoughts and moping.