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In the Land of Stories Old
They’d had a small group of raiders come up to the castle while Hans had been gone, and another slightly larger group attacked the castle two days after Merlin returned. Still just a handful of them, luckily, but they were well-armed and determined and very much surprised to be confronted by ghostly guards whose swords and spears actually worked. Not that Hans and the triplets didn’t join the fight along with Merlin, they did, but it was the presence of the guards that turned the fight in their favor. Only one raider was left alive when they were done, and the triplets marched him down to the town to turn him in to the magistrate so he could have a proper trial and execution. The magistrate was surprised, to say the least, but he did lock the raider up in a cell and then come up to the castle himself to find out what had happened.
He wasn’t pleased when he came back down, and he immediately summoned all of the dock guards to his office. Alan George, current magistrate of the Black Isle, was a tall man with silvering dark hair and a neatly trimmed villain’s beard, and the look on his angular face had them all shifting their feet nervously. “What I want to know,” he said once they were all assembled, “is how this has happened three times already without me knowing about it, hmm? The king didn’t bother to send word the first two times because none of the raiders survived, and he honestly didn’t bother this time either—that was the princess and the two members of the Fearless Seven currently in residence in the castle, who it seems were beginning to speculate on whether or not anybody has been keeping an eye on what goes up the King’s Road. Oh, and the rumors are partly true, they had to have the magician call forth the shades of former palace guards to watch the gates and such. The former captain of the guard is up there, and he had a few choice words to say to me about how you lot don’t seem to be doing your jobs and maybe I should check to see if some in the town have decided working with the raiders is more profitable than working with the castle. So which is it?”
“We wouldn’t work with those scum!” one of them exclaimed. “But…”
The magistrate’s eyebrow went up. “But?”
“But why should we protect that lot up at the castle?” one of the others said, more belligerently. “What did the king ever do for us? And he let everyone up there be killed!”
“That he did, which is why the guards refused to defend the castle unless he ceded his crown to the princess as soon as she married. Which is also why she and her prince—who need I remind you is Merlin Emrys himself, leader of the Fearless Seven and ward of King Uther of Avalon!—keep coming down here asking about what we need from trade. They’re readying themselves to take over, and I had it from Captain Gerard’s own mouth that the king these days mostly skulks around the place feeling sorry for himself and the prince and princess are doing most all of his work already.”
Another man got a hopeful look on his face. “You’re saying my cousin…knows himself, Magister George? It’s not just an illusion?”
The magistrate nodded. “He’s all there, as near as I can tell, he’s just rather more prone to anger now—not that I can blame him. And he did remember and ask after you, Jonas. He told me to tell you that after the wedding they’ll be wanting to hire some living guards, and that if you came up and spoke to him before that he’d put in a good word for you.” He snorted. “Of course, that’s if I don’t end up having to hang the lot of you for colluding with the raiders—Gerard’s words, not mine. He said he’d especially like to know how Rufus Fear and his vicious band of murderous rogues managed to get past all of you and the entire town besides without someone letting them.”
Every single one of the guards paled. Rufus Fear and his men had been a problem in the Fairy Isles for a decade or more, and more than once in the past Captain Gerard had brought his men down to the town to help fight those particular raiders off. They were dangerous and ruthless men, and they tended not to leave living victims in their wake. The belligerent guard traded a look with his fellows and swallowed. “We didn’t, sir—we wouldn’t, you know that. Especially not knowing Her Highness was up there with only her father and a weakened mage to protect her.”
That got George’s attention. Prince Merlin had looked more than a little tired, but he’d attributed it to them just having fought off a bunch of raiders. “Weakened? Where did you hear that?”
The man shrugged. “It’s a rumor, been going around for a while now. Supposedly the mage nearly died killing the witch, and he wasn’t even able to get out of bed for weeks much less do any magic.”
“He hasn’t seemed weak when they’ve been down here, him and the princess,” Jonas put in. “But it was a good long while after the death of the witch when they started doing that, and before that the only ones coming down from the castle were all those little green dwarfs.”
His boss gave him a very patient look. “You mean the rest of the Fearless Seven, who were still under a particularly nasty curse?” Everyone’s mouth dropped open in shock, and he waved it away. “I’m told the curse protects itself by not letting them be recognized, which explained a good deal about some other things which had gone on. Prince Hans managed to undo his not even two weeks ago, so he’s back to himself now, and I’ve no doubt Prince Arthur and Prince Jack have gone off to see about taking care of theirs. The Princes Vinci have still got it, but it’s my guess they’re waiting for the others to return before they head out themselves. Because of the raider problems the castle keeps having, I’m sure.” He circled around behind his desk and sat down. “Just so you know, Her Highness and Prince Merlin are taking a more…charitable view of things than Captain Gerard and I; they think the raiders got past you because someone’s found some other way to get up there and there aren’t enough of you to prevent that sort of thing, which is partially true. You all know that you’re to ring the bell if raiders are spotted and not get yourselves killed trying to engage them on your own…but lads, that bell hasn’t rung in quite a long while. Which means either nobody saw the raiders, or whoever did see them was helping them. Michel, Davy, Peter, I want you to put together some trustworthy men who know the area and have them check for signs that we’ve got a back way into this kingdom someone has decided to exploit. Nick, you go up to the castle and tell Captain Gerard everything you can recall about these rumors. Jonas will go with you, I don’t want anyone walking the King’s Road alone until we’re sure there’s not some hidden way to get onto it. Justin, you and Lance get back on patrol, and Joseph will stay here with me to guard our prisoner.” He smirked. “I’m interested to see if anyone comes around wanting me to let him out. Dismissed!”
He was even more interested when the first person who came around asking about his prisoner was the master of the local trade guild, but unfortunately—because George absolutely detested the power-hungry bastard and would have loved to put him in a cell, or maybe carve his shriveled heart out with a spoon—the man had only come ‘round because he’d heard there was a prisoner and he wanted to know who it was. Doubtless so he could be first in line gossiping about it, but that was neither here nor there to the magistrate. “It’s a raider, the only one who survived an attempt on the castle this morning,” he explained. “I’ve got men out now trying to figure out how they’ve been getting up there, this is the third time it’s happened and no one saw them come through the town, so there must be another way we aren’t aware of. If we can’t find it today, I’ve been promised help from the castle tomorrow.”
“Hmm.” The guildmaster pretended to think about that. “Curious, that they wouldn’t come down today, don’t you think?”
“No, not at all—they’re all exhausted from fighting the raiders off, and on top of that they’ve the bodies to burn.” He smirked when the man blanched. “Why’d you think there’s only one prisoner, Guildmaster Follet? The rest died in the attempt.”
“But…but that’s murder! You must arrest those people, Magister George, we can’t have…”
“I am not arresting two members of the Fearless Seven for protecting our princess from raiders,” George cut him off. “Not that they killed most of them, they didn’t. It was the guards who did that.”
“What were the dock guards doing up at the castle? They’re paid to work for the town!”
Oh, this was going to be enjoyable. “No, not my men, the castle’s guards. Captain Gerard was none too pleased when I went up there to find out what’d been going on. He said one group of raiders might be an accident, but this is the third one since the death of the witch and he’s wondering if someone down here’s been lining their pockets with stolen gold.” Follet opened his mouth. “The first group was headed by Rufus Fear, Guildmaster. I don’t think I need to tell you what would’ve happened to this town if he and his men had taken the castle, do I?”
“They killed him?”
“Prince Arthur killed him, according to Captain Gerard. Fear had already confessed he was up there to kill the king, and the prince decided to ask him about his plans for the princess. Fear didn’t make it all the way through that part of his confession, apparently.”
Follet tried to wave that away. “Oh surely he just planned to ransom her…”
“Rufus Fear didn’t do ransom,” George interrupted him. “And you know it.” He leaned forward. “Guildmaster, don’t think for a minute that I’ve forgotten who’s been talking loudest around here about how we don’t need a king and how everything was running just fine under the trade guild—under you.”
“It has been!”
“It hasn’t, and you know that too. Without a ruler, we don’t have anyone to intercede for us properly with the other kingdoms—no alliances, no trade delegations, nothing. We’ve just been limping along, and a good portion of the trade we get is second-hand from other markets that are overfull, or it’s cut-rate goods no one else would take. But that’s going to change once Princess Snow becomes queen, which will happen the same day she marries Prince Merlin. Apparently that was Captain Gerard’s condition for continuing on at the castle: the king had to give his word that he’d hand over the crown to his daughter.”
“Presumptuous of him. One might even call it treasonous.”
“You might, I call it a keen understanding of the situation everyone found themselves in up there. The guards blame the king for what happened with the witch, so they made a reasonable demand: they continue to protect the castle and the princess, but King White hands over his crown at the earliest opportunity as he doesn’t deserve to keep wearing it.” He was quite deliberately not mentioning that Captain Gerard and the rest of the guards were dead, he thought he’d let Follet find that out for himself. “Go up there yourself and speak to Gerard, if you don’t believe me. I already have some men checking the King’s Road, so it’ll be safe enough for you, and I know for a fact he’s with the guards on the gate this afternoon. He said Her Highness was still shaken by the attack and he’d promised to see to any other visitors this day himself.”
That did it; Follet couldn’t leave the office fast enough, with the prospect of getting to whisper in the ear of the captain of the Royal Guard before him. Joseph came out of the cell area with wide eyes. “Sir, you didn’t tell him…”
George grinned and leaned back in his chair. “No, that I did not. I’m sure Captain Gerard can handle that part himself.”
The rumors that were flying around town the next day were related in whispers. Guildmaster Follet had gone up to the castle quite full of himself and come back down white as milk and shaking like a leaf, and had gone straight to his own home and locked himself in. The dock guards had been all too happy to tell everyone about how his trip to see Guard Captain Gerard had gone, though, as apparently the very dead captain of the castle guards had been more than a little put out with Follet’s method of approaching him. “Disrespectful, he was,” an off-duty guard said over a mug of ale someone had bought him to keep his story flowing smoothly. “Went stomping up there like someone owed him something, ordering us to come with him, and then screamed like a child when the guards came out. They’re all dead, of course.”
“But…but, Nick, if they’re dead…”
“Oh, they can talk,” Nick assured everyone. “Jonas was up there with me, because Captain Gerard was his cousin. Is his cousin? I’m not exactly sure how that works, but the captain knew Jonas and was glad to see him, and they chatted like any other members of a family for a bit.” He leaned into it a little. “Their swords and spears apparently work, too. There’ve been three raider attacks up at the castle since the witch was killed, and it was the dead guards and a few members of the Fearless Seven who took care of it and protected our princess.” He made a face, shook his head. “Apparently they refuse to protect the king, they blame him for getting them all killed. But they’re loyal to Princess Snow, and once she marries her prince she’ll be crowned Queen Snow White the Second.” He shook his head again. “The guildmaster’d best watch himself, with all his talk about how we should just run everyone out of the castle. If Captain Gerard heard that…well, I don’t know how far from the castle those guards can get, but I do know being dead’s made them kind of mean.”
He reported back to his boss late that night, only slightly unsteady on his feet and entirely pleased with himself. “I’ve got ‘em all speculating that just maybe Captain Gerard and his men might be able to come down and have a word with someone who thinks we should get rid of the royal family,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know that they can’t…”
George rolled his eyes. “Go back to the barracks and get some sleep, Nick,” he ordered. “But good work, so long as you don’t revisit that well again any time soon. Let the rumors take care of the rest, and let them wonder how much of your tale was the ale talking—if you want to let them think I tore a strip off of you for starting rumors, that’s fine. Too much known is too much someone could make a plan about, and we’ve enough problems with raiders now.”
Nick nodded. “None of ‘em said anything about lost paths up into the mountains or secret harbors or anything like that,” he said. “I was listening before I started talking, and after, and they all seemed quite a bit bothered by the idea that raiders had been here thrice of late and no one knew it.”
“Aren’t we all,” was the magistrate’s answer. “Dismissed, Nick—you did a good night’s work, now go sleep it off.”
The young guard nodded and headed off for the guards’ barracks, but instead of going back inside his house as might have been expected, George stepped just out of his door and watched his man go until he turned the corner that would lead him into view of the guard on the barracks’ door. He frowned at the shadows, stepped out farther to have a look up the mountain. The Black Castle loomed above everything, and no lights could be seen in any of her windows. Because of course the living would all be sleeping, and what use have the dead for light?
Magister George went back inside in a somewhat disturbed state of mind, and his sleep that night was restless and broken by strange dreams.
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