Keryan
Isle
- Distant Star
Dragons
| -Lahranne -Mezanine -Renoud -Tokei -Ruben -Wernyv -Sezanee -Jonayk -Sophia -Arrenji -Kuruma -Sekai -Barune -Thekardien |
KSG!
The First Movement
Chapter 2: Conspiracy
Exposed
Stumbling, however seemed to be more appropriate when Tokei, the castle’s
jester entered the room. He was a thin, rather short fellow with lazy grey
eyes and mouse-brown hair that mostly went unnoticed if he didn't have his
outfit on. Catching the man with both her arms, and nearly being pulled
down by the dead weight, Lahranne felt a wet dampness that she was
unfamiliar with. When she retracted her arms, they were smeared with
bright red streaks, blood from a wound in Tokei’s side.
"What’s wrong Tokei!" Mezanine asked when she saw Lahranne’s
expression shift from surprise to horror and anxiety. The jester was known
for his bad jokes and would have been fired by any other court years ago.
But in Rayjinkel the people easily laughed and even Tokei’s moderate
talents were enough to give him job security in a castle run like a
family. Hiwever, with every passing second it became all the more clear
that today, Tokei wasn’t trying to pull of a stunt. It was bitter
reality that the pleasant life at the court would soon be destroyed.
"Miladies. You have to hurry."
"What happened Tokei? Your wound, shouldn’t we call a nurse?"
Lahranne asked, already making a temporary bandage from her bedcovers.
Though Lahranne was indeed always the first to move in times of crisis, it
was Mezanine who now could grasp the immenseness of the situation first.
Even if she had grown into a fun-loving young woman, she had not forgotten
the sadness she had once been subjected to.
"It’s too dangerous to call a nurse, right?" She asked, her
voice thick with emotion, "Something bad is happening and Uncle Unsen
wants us to leave so we don’t get hurt."
Tokei nodded as he caught his breath and tried to get back up. The bandage
lent him some support, but he still needed to lean heavily on the two
girls.
Lahranne’s face, riddled with fear and disbelief, was reflected in the
mirror as she tried to make sense of the situation. Who would try to hurt
her parents? Who would come to the palace and destroy what her parents had
fought to build?
Understanding what the girl was feeling, Tokei pulled his pained body
together and answered her unspoken questions.
"Lord Arrenji, our great king Unsen’s counsellor has been plotting
against the current rule. This night, in the rush to get the preparations
for the banquet ready, he made his move. Though the king was captured, the
queen escaped and it was her majesty that gave me the task of finding you
and bringing you to safety.
"Dad... Will dad be allright?" Lahranne asked.
"Arrenji will try to blaim him for something so he can officially
dethrone our king. I... We assume that he intends to marry Lady Lahranne
by force and then usurping the throne in the confusion. When the truth
comes out, everything will already be too late." Tokei’s usually
smiling face now looked grim and defeated. Though the man could not be
older than 35, he seemed to be an old man in the flickering candle light
and the leaden atmosphere.
"But mother is ok?" Mezanine asked.
"She got away, though i haven’t seen her since we parted. I thrust
she has found a way out. She knows the castle, and the people outside.
More the people know her, there are few who would wish her majesty
harm."
Steps in the hall alerted the jester that trouble was already on it’s
way to find them. Even if the queen escaped, marrying the princess and
getting her with child would suffice to safeguard Arrenji’s right to the
throne. There was no time to lose.
Tokei got up and motioned the girls to the big mirror in Lahranne’s
room. It was this mirror that the queen had told Tokei about, it hid a
secret passageway, built by her kinsmen and known by only a handful of
people who could all be trusted. It led straight down the tower and into
the garden. From there however they’d have to find a way out by
themselves.
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