Armor

The next day, a contingent of soldiers arrived at the gates. After determining that they were under the orders of the king, they were let in, along with a contingent of servants on loan from Kyren’s grandmother’s—now Kyren’s—estate, and the former majordomo of the Wyrwinds. The captain of the soldiers met Kyren in the reception area, with me, Hrig, and Stone standing behind her small throne.

"Lady Wyrwind," he said, bowing. "I am Captain Tylus. I am here under orders to place your brothers under arrest and investigate their conspiracy with the self-proclaimed independent barons."

The captain was a tall, well-built man who looked to be in his late thirties to early forties. He had a thick mustache the color of pepper. On his shoulder, pinning his cloak in place, was the metal symbol of the army, an eagle’s claw, polished to a mirror-like sheen.

"Welcome, Captain Tylus. Unfortunately, my brothers managed to escape, and I no longer know their whereabouts. I do, however, have a record of their correspondences, witnesses to their wrongdoings, and my own testimony to offer in regard to what they’ve done."

"Thank you, milady Is there a space set aside for my men and me? Aside from the investigation, we’ve been ordered to garrison here until things along the border are less volatile."

"We have a barracks that I’ve ordered cleaned and prepared for your arrival. We are less well-staffed than normal, but those that happened to arrive behind you are here to help. Let me know if there’s anything we can do for you."

"Thank you. There is one more thing." He reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out a letter. The paper was crisp white and sealed with gold wax. He approached Kyren and handed it to her.

"This seal?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes, milady, it’s from the king."

"May we be dismissed?"

"Ah, of course. Luisa, show them to their barracks."

With that, the soldiers left in an orderly fashion, looking slightly comical as they followed a short, elderly maid to their quarters in almost perfect lockstep. After that, Kyren welcomed the arriving servants and gave the returned majordomo, Imiri, an in-depth rundown of what had happened and what she needed from her. Her thoroughness impressed me, especially as she fidgeted with the royal letter, clearly wanting to sate her curiosity as to what was inside.

When the receptions were finally done, we all made our way to the tea room where, with remarkable control, Kyren made a pot of tea and slowly opened and unfolded the letter. She read it quietly while Hrig, Stone, and I did our best not to hover over, or in Stone’s case, under, her.

"It’s an invitation. It looks like it was written in his own hand." She handed Stone the letter, then Hrig, and finally, it was passed to me

Lady Kyren Wyrwind,

I was incredibly distraught to hear of the recent troubles that have befallen your house. The Wyrwinds have long been honored servants of the kingdom, and to hear of how your brothers plotted and schemed, nearly driving you to ruin, is greatly troubling. Still, I am impressed with your handling of matters, and you should know that I personally will be ensuring there are no issues with your inheritance of all land and titles associated with your house. Furthermore, I am planning a rather large party in honor of a dear friend. As you have had so much trouble recently, I thought that participation in such an activity would allow you a respite from the troubles which have recently plagued you. The event is to be a masquerade two weeks from now here at the palace. You may bring any guests you desire. I look forward to your attendance.

Warmest regards,

His Majesty King Caedus the XXXIV, King of Caedun, Ruler of the Middle Kingdom

Post Scriptum

I never much cared for your brothers, seemed like they had naught but air between their ears, if you catch my meaning.

Post Post Scriptum

I’ve been informed you’re a priestess. Just a warning, my parties are rather tame, but the longer they go on, the more things tend to get a tad more debauched than a holy woman would appreciate. Just a warning.

"He’s kind of funny, isn’t he?" I asked as I finished reading.

"Aye, he seems a king of good humor. Always a positive thing in a ruler."

"Normally, a royal party would seem boring, but I’m curious to see what our king considers ‘debauched’," said Hrig.

"Well, obviously, you’re the ones I’m inviting. A masquerade; there hasn’t been one of those in quite some time."

"They’re out of fashion, right?" I asked, some of Sevald’s memories of finding his great-grandparents' masks and wearing them around the manor coming to me.

"Yes, it seems like they encouraged plotting, affairs, and general backstabbing. They weren’t banned per se, but they were certainly discouraged by the crown."

"That’s a shame. They seem like they were a good time," said Stone.

"I prefer to stab people in the front. It makes me feel better when they can see that I’m enjoying myself while I’m doing it," said Hrig.

"Well, we’ve got two weeks. We can take one to settle things here and then head for the capital."

* * *

After going over the invitation, Kyren went back to work, Hrig decided to do some training, and I was planning on helping the excavation of the elyrium bars. They were going to have to break through large portions of stone in order to remove them, as breaking the bars themselves down would be impossible without ancient elven methods that likely only the oldest living elven blacksmiths were aware of. Still, even as bars, someone could definitely find use for them.

Before I could join the group excavating the bars, I was approached by Stone.

"Hey, lad, I need some help. Are you free?"

"I was going to help with the bars, but what do you need?"

"There’s just one section of the palace I haven’t been able to disarm the traps in. There’s a long corridor running underground that I think leads outside. There was a mechanism for disarming it, but time has made it impossible for me to use. Even beyond that, the traps are layered in such a way that I’m not even sure of what all is there, even with my stone sense."

"How can I help?"

"Would you mind…walking through the corridor and activating all the traps?"

"Sure, I can do that."

"Really? Just like that."

"Yeah, I mean, it probably won’t kill me."

"I feel just a wee bit like I’m taking advantage of you."

"Well, it’s just something you need done that I’m uniquely suited for. If I needed something stolen or some books cooked, I’d come to you."

"That’s true. You don’t need that now, do you?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes. "I could use a break."

"Afraid not, but I’ll let you know."

Stone began leading me down some stairs, through a secret passageway, down a short fall, and back through another hidden set of stairs.

"You mentioned you can store things inside yourself?"

"Yes."

"About how much?"

"A small lake's worth of water."

"Really? What’re you storing now?"

I did some quick inventory. "Two crossbows and several bolts, a dagger, an axe, some poisoned brandy, thirty-two gold pieces, and some interesting rocks I found."

"So you could have been carrying everything for us this entire time?"

"I, uh, yes. I suppose I could’ve."

Stone sighed. "The cost of secrets is a sore back for me, it seems. Not to mention lost profit. Do you have any idea how incredible of a pickpocket you could be with that ability? How great a thief you could be?”

“Well, stealth is a bit of an issue for me. I tend to move a bit noisily."

Stone chuckled. "A minor detail, lad. Something we could work on, if you’d like."

We arrived at the corridor Stone had mentioned. It was a long, wide hallway made up of brick and stone. I could see the faintest bit of light toward the end of it.

"The traps start there," he said, pointing a few feet in front of where we stood.

I nodded and began walking calmly in that direction. I saw Stone start to try and stop me before remembering that I’d volunteered to help. I stepped on a slab and felt the floor indent slightly. A wave of darts crashed into my armor, a few of them actually puncturing through it. I pulled those out, stored them, and continued walking. The next trap to activate was a wall of flame that spat out onto me from a statue with the face of a dragon. I walked past it, and the flame stopped.

"Sevald! Stand where you were. We have to make sure it uses up all the oil so it’s inactive."

I nodded and moved back to where I had been. The flames licked at my armor, but after about a minute, they fizzled out. I then purposely stepped on a tripwire, which sent an axe swinging at me like a pendulum. This one, I caught before it hit me and held on to until the gears straining to swing it gave, becoming inert. After that, there was a pitfall into spikes, which I took the time to break before throwing slabs of stone into the pit until it was safely covered, then came a mallet that knocked me backward. All I had to do was saw the head of it off, and finally, just at the exit was a guillotine that slashed straight downward and reset itself. I simply took a large rock and placed it in the way of the blade, which shattered as it attempted to cut it. I then stepped outside to a small patch of forest just a short distance from the outer walls.

Stone slowly made his way to me, taking the time to look at each trap and make sure they couldn’t be fixed, occasionally making some small additional breaks using his hammer. When he exited, he took a deep breath of the fresh air and clapped me firmly on the back.

"Great work, lad. You’ve just turned some lunatics' life's work into nothing and saved me a week's effort."

"I was the right person for the job. I used to be part of a lunatic’s life’s work, after all."

Stone chuckled. "Y’know, I am curious about him."

"The one who made these traps?"

"No, he was probably just some paranoid noble. I’ve met enough of those. I mean the one who made you."

"Ah, my master."

"You still call him that? I don’t know that the name's accurate anymore since you ran him through."

"Well, I don’t know his name. He just made me. The only time he spoke to me was to give me orders."

"He was clearly powerful, though. He also seems to have given you quite the suite of powers considering he only wanted to use you as a trap."

"I suppose that’s true. I hadn’t really thought critically about him, or myself, to be honest. I’ve been too busy trying to fit in with you and sort through the memories of my meals. Being a ‘person’ has seemed more important than knowing more about myself."

"Well, lad, part of being a person is learning about yourself." He smiled. "Don’t feel like you need to listen to a self-proclaimed thief, liar, conman, and general scoundrel, though."

"I think more people proclaim you to be those things than just yourself."

He laughed, and after that, we gathered the tools we’d brought and made our way back into the main portion of the estate. Stone might have been all of the things he’d titled himself, but he was also wise. He seemed to be a person who had seen it all, and through doing so, had become eminently comfortable with being himself. It was not that he didn’t have issues, just that he approached them directly and honestly as himself.