To slay a king(lucinde x professorspy)

[ProfessorSpy]

"Yet another letter of condolence."


"Does that not please you, my lord?"


"Yes, but it would please me more if that old fart would get his ancient carcass up off the throne and see him."


"It is difficult to travel during the winter in Koufkeli, you know this."


"I know, but honestly, Sielger, the two of them have been best friends for years...and when has a simple Koufkelian winter stopped Lord Malo from visiting?"


"You do make a valid point, my lord." Sielger's elongated nose sniffled as he turned on his heel and proceeded to the heavy wooden door. He stopped for a moment, then returned to the side of a rather lithe looking young man with rumpled dark blonde hair and glacier colored eyes that seemed to twinkle every breathing moment.


"You also received this." He withdrew a small envelope from his inner breast pocket. In simple handwriting was the name "Calanthe" written in black ink. The young man took the envelope and opened it, his shoulders sagging ever more forward...up until he read the first line. His eyes widened, spine elongating as he straitened himself.


"Prince Calanthe?"


"Who...who gave you this?"


"It was included in the daily mail brought by the courier, as normal."


"Get that courier, bring him to me immediately." Siegler's brow raised in alarm, but knew better than to question a direct order from the royal family.


"Of course." With that, he made his exit, the door clicking into place as it shut. Calanthe took a few steps forward to an open window where the warm rays of the sun could illuminate this even further. His fingers trembled, his mouth was dry...


"No...no no no. This can't be right." But he could feel that it was. He just knew! He read the letter silently to himself once....then again, parsing every word. Then, without thought, he read aloud:


"I hope this finds you alright, Swallow. I've been meaning to write to you all this time and see if we could meet, but things didn't work out the way I wanted them to. Please, come meet me outside the walls tonight, near the cornfields we used to get lost in. I have so much to tell you. Yours, Sparrow." He shook his head, looking out at the vast expanse of color that made up the royal garden. He could see them there, vaulting over rosebushes, pushing past gardeners and keepers so they could see the beekeepers extract honey, snapping off fence posts and pretending to joust(that didn't end very well)...


A smile crossed his lips. Something that hadn't happened since his father, Leone, king of Metaschi, had fallen ill two weeks ago.


"I knew you'd come back eventually..." The joy welling up inside him was countered rather quickly by a number of emotions. Why was she reaching out to him now, of all times? Was there a motive behind this? Was there...


A knock came at the door.


"Yes?" The door opened, revealing Sielger.


"A commission from Dasvrochi has arrived to discuss the ongoing silver negotiations." Calanthe rolled his eyes.


"Can't you do this?"


"Not as well as you, my lord."


"Now you're just buttering me up."


"I do what I must." Calanthe chuckled, looking down once more at the cryptic, yet joy inducing letter.


"I'll be stepping out tonight, Sielger. Let the guard know."


"Of course, my lord."

 

[Lucinde]

With shaky hands, she sealed the letter. She knew far too well she couldn't send it off from here. Fayette looked around cautiously before tucking the letter in her coat. With a heavy sigh, she finished packing up the rest of the things she would need on her travels. She didn't have much to begin with, and some clothes were torn, though she patched them up herself. She tightened her coat around her as she grabbed the lantern from it's perch, and climbed out the window.


She had slipped and fell on her bum, wincing a bit. The distance wasn't that far, but it still stung a bit. She looked around before heading off to the stables to grab her favorite horse. "I'm sorry, Mother, but I must go." She whispered, looking back one final time. Walking into the horse stable, she quietly made her way to the stall. The horse got spooked, but she quickly hushed it. "Shh, Midnight, it's me." She whispered.


The journey ahead was far, but she had to make it in time before it was too late. How she had missed her best friend. She and Calanthe used to have so much fun when they were kids. She never got to say goodbye to him all those years ago, and being unable to communicate to him drove her mad. It wasn't like she had anything to do with what happened. There was no time to think back on ill times, she hurried along through the snow on horseback.


It took her close to a week to finally reach the capital. She looked at it from afar on a hill as she lowered her hood. She fished the letter she had written to Calanthe and tried to figure out a way she could get it to him without it being know she sent it. She found a local courier making his way out of town for some deliveries. "Wait, sir!" She called to him, walking down with her horse. "I need you to deliver something for me."


"Sorry, young lady, I'm already late for one delivery." He said with a tip of his hat.


"Please, it's important. Here..." she said, and reached for her knapsack. "This is all I have, can you please deliver it?" She asked, fishing the last of her silver coins. She was desperate, and hoping he would notice this and take pity.


"Alright, alright." He said taking the letter. "At least this will make up for my being late." He mumbled to himself. "Whose it for?" He asked, but Fayette was already climbing on top of her horse and taking off. "Wait! Ugh, stupid girl." He flipped the letter over and saw the name written with wide eyes. With a huff, he turned his own horse around and headed back to the castle.


Fayette rode into town, knowing the best place where she could hide out for the night before sneaking into the meeting spot. When the time had come, she ventured out into the night, staying low to not get caught by guards walking by. Now all she had to do was wait for Calanthe to come.

 

[ProfessorSpy]

It had been a long and tedious exercise of diplomatic relations, but thankfully there was a large payoff as the sun began to retreat. The Dasvrochians were known for their tenacious bargaining and somewhat staunch opposition towards compromising, but ever since Leone took the throne, they seemed to be much more accommodating. Maybe that was due to Leone's overt attempts to pacify any desire they had to invade by granting them embassies in Metaschi or welcoming their foreign emissaries into the palace like family members. Whatever the case, their tanned, hardened faces were less difficult to crack. Calanthe had mainly sat back in the uncomfortably hard high backed chair as Onul, their lead foreign diplomat, did most of the talking with the occasional quip by Calanthe(which wasn't very welcomed by those in attendance). The prince found it hard to focus most of the time when it came to the international relations scene, but this time it was even more difficult with the potential reunion between he and Fayette. He had so many questions to ask her, so many things to tell her about. Or maybe she knew everything about him? Maybe that was why she came back, because of Father's illness. But then why hadn't she popped up earlier? Was she scared of Calanthe's royal power? Was she trying to let Calanthe "be himself" while she retreated and felt unworthy of his affection(platonic, of course)? Or was there something else much more sinister? After all, she HAD just vanished along with the rest of her family one clear evening, the same kind of evening that now greeting Calanthe as he emerged onto the city streets. Shops were closing up and those who wished to ply their nocturnal trades, such as innkeepers, bartenders and much more unsavory types were beginning to show themselves. He cinched the hood around his head tighter, his maroon tunic swaying in the gentle breeze as he moved down the cobbled avenues and alleyways. It took him almost half an hour to make it to the nearest gate, the guards not giving him a second glance. Good, he fit in.


Well, sort of. It was hard to blend into the royal city when everyone knew what you looked like, but with the right disguise, Calanthe found that it was easy to weave in and out of the city without anyone noticing. It was honestly quite thrilling.


He spotted the rows of corn just a hundred yards or so in the distance, the stalks gently bending over due to the wind. Strolling forward, his breath came to him almost in ragged gasps.


"Alright then, slow down....slow it down..." His breathing did begin to slow, but his heart was thumping madly in his chest. He made it to the edge of the cornfield and took off his hood, breathing out a labored sigh.


"Come on...tell me this wasn't a cruel joke." He mumbled.

 

[Lucinde]

Fayette paced back and forth for a while as she waited. Maybe the courier wasn't able to get her letter to Calanthe, and this was a waste of time? Or maybe he got it, but ignored it and thought bad of her? She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, he wouldn't. I know him. Please let him have gotten the letter!" She whispered.


She stopped when she heard foot steps walking up. She stood still and ducked down. If it was a guard, she couldn't be caught. She saw a hooded person walk into view. She moved the cornstalks out of the way to see who it really was. The hood went down, and she gasped, seeing Calanthe. He hadn't changed a bit from the little boy she knew growing up.


"Calanthe?" She whispered, as she took her hood down, emerging from the cornstalks. She had long black hair that hung loosely in braids. Her bright emerald eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she looked at him. "It's been so long." She smiled.

 

[ProfessorSpy]

Calanthe jumped backwards a few feet at the mention of his name, his heart thumping wildly as he saw the woman before him come out from the cornfield. The moon wasn't obscured by any clouds, which meant that the pale moonlight was able to illuminate this newly discovered person. Her hair was that same ebony color that he remembered and her eyes...those twinkling eyes that looked like a pair of stars glistening. It was unmistakable who stood before him.


"Fayette? That...that can't be..." He laughed incredulously as he walked forward, placing a hand on her cloaked arm. He rubbed her upper arm, then poked her shoulder.


"Right, so if this is some sort of weird dream, then it's a good one. Or a projection." He placed both hands on her shoulders, a wide smile creeping across his face.


"I can't..." He looked down at the ground, hands returning to his sides. A few beats of silence passed before resuming eye contact.


"I can't believe you. I mean, twenty years..." A second glance at Fayette revealed that the beauty he remembered had only intensified in their breach of friendship.


"You look amazing for having vanished." Wow, that was idiotic. He chuckled.


"Ok, you know what I mean. You look...great. Amazing, actually." He ran a hand over the back of his neck.


"So...I mean, where do I start? Uh...how..have you..." No, that wasn't it.


"Where have you been..all these years? I looked everywhere and I...I just...kind of gave up on finding you."

 

[Lucinde]

She couldn't help but laugh and smile upon seeing her friend. A few tears came to the corner of her eyes and she wiped them away before they escaped. "You look great too. I mean... wow."


She had so much to say to him about her time away, and about why she had to go. She would have thought his mother would have at least told him why she left, but she guessed that didn't happened. "My biggest regret is not saying goodbye to you, but it happened so suddenly I had no time."


She sighed and turned away for a bit to collect her thoughts. She turned back around to face him, looking a bit serious. "But first, I need to warn you about something. Or rather...some one." She took in a deep breath. "Your father is in danger, and in turn, you."


"My uncle is planning on coming back to finish his revenge on your father. Over the years we've been gone, he's been plotting, and escaped his conviction. He's on his way and will be here soon."

 

[ProfessorSpy]

"Wait, wait, slow down." His hands slid to his hips.


"Uncle? Revenge? What is all this? I didn't know that your Uncle had gone to trial or had been convicted or...wait, revenge?" He stepped closer to Fayette, eyes betraying slight panic.


"What did Father do to deserve vengeance?" He paused.


"No, wait, let me rephrase that: which of the many things that ticked off the general populace did your Uncle want vengeance for?" A gust of wind flew by them, causing Calanthe's hair to ruffle in the wind and prompting his nostrils to pick up on the scents of wild rosebushes and rotting meat and...


Rotting meat?


Must be a dead animal.


Shrugging off the unusual odor, he continued:


"Is this why you all left? I mean, it makes sense. Father didn't speak of you at all when you disappeared. Neither did Mother. They pretended as if you didn't exist and maybe now I can get some clarification..." He thought for a moment.


"You weren't in on it, were you? I mean, obviously not, why else would you be warning me about this..." A chuckle escaped his lips as he took one of her hands and squeezed it gently.


"Sorry, sorry, there's been a lot on my mind and I've wanted to meet you on such better circumstances...right, back to it, explain this whole revenge thing to me."

 

[Lucinde]

"I know it is a lot to take in." She started off as she tried to remain calm. "The night before we left, my uncle stormed into the castle in order to try to kill your father. He was caught, and my whole family was brought into question about loyalty. Your father wanted to execute all of this in his paranoia, but your mother saved us, and had us sent away to live our life while my Uncle got sent away to be convicted."


She started of and looked down. "I was forbidden to try to send letters to you, or even come to visit. It was one of the hardest things that I had been through."


She looked back up at Calanthe. "My father lost his business due to a sudden raise of taxes. He had no way to make money for my aunt who had fallen ill, and was desperate. He acted on his rage and wasn't thinking straight. I do not accept what he did."


She squeezed his hand back and look worried. "When my father heard about my uncle escaping, I knew he was trying to get back at the King. I had to leave to warn you, and I too wish it was on better grounds."

 

[ProfessorSpy]

"Hard to believe all this happened and I never found out." He released her hand, although he continued to stand next to her, his thoughts a swirling jumble.


"So this came about due to a tax hike? Father may not have been the best economic manager, but I wouldn't think that raising taxes would cause such a dramatic shift in business ownership. Times must have been hard for your family...and we stood by, doing nothing to help." The last fraction of that statement was dripping with acid.


"You know what I've been doing? Trying to avoid something like that from happening again. A few years after you left, Father decided that the best thing to do would be to increase tolls at the major highways so we could have more money to spend on renovations to the castle. 'We need to present a more elegant appearance!' he told me when we were riding back into the capital from the Heartland. It was...disheartening to know that my father's focus was more on image and less on pragmatic policy making." He fiddled with the cinch on his hood as he continued:


"Mother is filling in as best she can, but they're going to want me in line to the throne next..." A thought drifted through his mind.


"Do you think...is your uncle just after Father or is he after our whole family? Because if he thinks that the problems are going to go away by killing the old man, he's got it all wrong." He turned to face her.


"Do you know where he is? Maybe we can reason him out of this."

 

[Lucinde]

"I'm afraid I don't know where he is at, but I know he is on the way." She answered. "I had to warn you, in case he might try to attack you as well. He's let his anger dictate his actions and he is blinded by the rage."


"No matter what happens, I just want you and your family to be safe. If I didn't come to warn you..." Her voice caught in her throat and she didn't finish her sentence.


"Just promise me you'll be safe. I don't want to receive a letter telling the country that the royal family has been killed." She squeezed his hand tightly. She looked around again in case someone was spying or walked up on them. "I do not know how long I can stay. If I'm found, I might be in trouble."

 

[ProfessorSpy]

"Blinded by rage...familiar with that concept." As she continued, he couldn't help but think what WOULD have happened if she didn't come to warn him. It wasn't as if Fayette's uncle(whatever his name was) could somehow muster up a massive military force or summon the fracture guild of shadows to come back together and mount an offensive. It was a petty, arrogant man who thought he could take on the forces of Metaschi alone.


Or was it?


When she finished, he couldn't help but ask:


"Fayette...what aren't you telling me?" The hand that she had used to take his was still there, which allowed Calanthe to draw her a bit closer to him, their bodies inches apart.


"I believe you, don't get me wrong, but your warning sounds more appropriate for an incoming wave of mutated elves than one angry man. You must know something more than you're letting on...or am I being a horrible human being by being suspicious of my best friend who made a reappearance in my life?" It was then that the breeze kicked up again, wafting more of that delightful combination of rose and rotted meat that prompted Calanthe to ask:


"Why don't you come back with me? To the castle? You're too pretty and kind to be outside the city walls at this time of night. We'll get this all sorted out."

 

[Lucinde]

She shook her head solemnly and drew her hand away. "I cannot go back to the castle. If the King or Queen found out...I could be in trouble." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. "I just wish... things cold go back to how they were. When we were kids running about having fun. Playing our silly games. But things have... changed."


She looked up at the sky, seeing the stars glisten above with the moon. The familiar sights and smells of the town brought back so many memories of this place. She remembered being with her mother who ran all over the kingdom looking for a specific flower the Queen wanted for something. Scaring the gardener with Calanthe a couple of times. She sighed heavily. She also wanted to say that he was next to be King, and she was just a girl struggling to make a living like everyone else.

 

[Lucinde]

(bump)