Chapter 193

Albedo's sneering contempt was on full display when she heard the riots in the streets. The Overseer of the Guardians held discipline in the highest regard, and the rioting human animals in the streets were rendered lower than low in her eyes. The corruption and self interest that brought things to this point, she understood. But when she approached the shutters, flung them open to clap hard against the walls and poked her head out to see the chaos for herself?

That she could not comprehend beyond contempt. Peasants, filthy beasts that they were, ran wild, they threw torches against the walls of the public buildings, while the public officials ran screaming from the crackling fires and the billowing smoke coughing and staggering, if they waited too long, found themselves subjected to the nonexistent mercy of the mob.

Shouts of rage on grimy, torchlit faces twisted human visages into masks of monstrous fury, no longer seemed to be 'people' in the traditional sense. Illyana whimpered and rushed into a corner of the room, crouching and hugging herself with her knees pulled into her chest, she rocked a little back and forth and shut her eyes against the noise of human hatred.

Skana however, rushed to join her Lady at the window and looked out. Her Lady looked down at her and said, barely audible above the crowd, "It seems you did better than you planned. This shouldn't have happened for a few more weeks."

The peasant woman didn't answer, she looked down the street where an official in a dark judge's robe was dragged screaming onto his back, he had a loud shriek, almost like a woman's in its shrill high pitch, and then he was out of sight.

She couldn't hear the sound of his death or pain after that, but she could see the bloody fingers and hands of peasants armed with knives, clubs, or just their bare, angry hands.

The great horn of the castle blew and city garrisons meant to protect the population emerged from their positions, the clink of metal and the clip clop of horse hooves from cavalry was distant, but growing.

The mob however, was in no mood to argue the matter. From the window Skana saw a rock hit a soldier's unguarded face, and he fell in a spray of blood and teeth before being dragged flailing backward by his squadmates, who lowered their halberds with a single snapping motion and began to advance.

Skana saw enough, she leaned back in, while Albedo began to laugh. It sent chills down the peasant's spine, like listening to a child laugh as it poked at a wounded animal.

"My Lady, why are you laughing?" Skana asked when she glanced back to see the terrified elf in the corner who now had her ears covered to keep back the noise.

"Because this is going far, far better than I expected. You can't hear what I can, human. To you..." Albedo leaned back in and closed the shutters, she turned to face her servants while Skana sat by the elf and drew her into a close embrace, "it's just noise, shouting, incomprehensible calls for blood." She tapped her ear and said with a broad, monstrous smile, "But my demonic ears can discern things you can't, the guards are too few, the Holy Kingdom keeps the bulk of its fighting forces and mages in the north. They're not prepared to fight here, not like this. Hoburns is going to fall into the hands of the mob and whoever leads them."

"And the doppelgangers?" Skana asked, suddenly thinking of those playful creatures and what fates they might suffer out there.

Albedo shrugged, "They will blend in with the mob, stoke their resentments, and since they're at least a bit better than average strength and come with a few combat skills, they should speed things along considerably."

Skana sighed with relief, "Good, thank you for reassuring me, My Lady." Illyana ceased to rock, instead she was only breathing hard, and allowed herself to relax in the comforting embrace of her companion.

"You're worried about them?" Albedo asked, "They're only summons." She cocked her head and looked down at the seated human.

"They're still mine… yours… ours… whatever." Skana said abruptly, "I don't much like my own kind anymore, but my mother is still my mother, my village is still my village. The doppelgangers are nice to me, they work real hard, summons or not, they're loyal, and even when they got no choice, that's still worth something. I don't want bad things for them, you know?"

Albedo gave a slow nod of understanding. On the ledger of her heart, Albedo took a piece of chalk and marked Skana's name in the 'do not kill' side, with one final tally.

Unaware that she'd saved her own life with loyalty to minor beings of Nazarick and not merely to the collection of coins for her idle pleasures, Skana pressed her forehead close to Illyana's ear.

"It'll be alright, nobody will hurt you, okay, everything will be fine, Lady Albedo won't let anyone get you, nobody will touch you, never again, okay? You understand, I won't let them, she won't let them. You're safe in here, you're not the one they want, I promise. I always keep my promises, okay, do you understand?" Her repetitions and whispered, calm, quiet voice into the twitching elven ears, and the tightness of her grip, slowly let the elf woman start to relax.

"My Queen, we have to move!" The captain of the guard, a behemoth of a man shouted as he burst into the room with his wide hazel eyes filled with a mix of fear and anger alike. He didn't bother to kneel or even salute, instead he rushed forward and took the Holy Queen by her wrist, only for her to pull back.

She yanked her hand free, "Gotsa… what is it?!" She demanded as she heard the horn blow outside.

"A riot, the rioters have overrun multiple guard posts, we can hold the castle for now, but it won't be long before they bring up a way to scale the walls! We can't hold them back forever!"

Outside there was yet more shouting as nobles and knights rushed to and fro, panic setting in among them.

"Where do you propose that we go?!" She demanded.

"Kalinsha has one of the largest garrisons in the Kingdom, and there are forts along the way, you'll be safe there, we can return and retake the city later!" The commander of the Palace Guard reached for his Queen again, but she stepped back.

"You're suggesting I flee?! That I run away and leave my people to-" She snapped her mouth shut when he shouted at her.

"Kill you!" He snapped, "They will kill you, and that's if they don't do worse first. We can't hold them back, and you don't have the means to fight that many with your magic, my Queen we must get you out, as long as you're alive you can reclaim the city! If you stay, I stay, if I stay, my guards stay, if we stay, we all die! Our lives are in your hands!" His face was sweating, it was broad, had the faint beginnings of a brown beard, and his broad body, she knew, rippled with muscle beneath his armor.

Gotsa was an adventurer in his prior career, and one of considerable skill, but he could be swarmed, they could get past even him as a wall of meat, and he had to sleep, eat… he could not be everywhere. If he was worried…

"I won't leave anyone behind!" Queen Calca snapped. "We go together. Someone get Remedios, she's helpless, and whatever happens I won't leave her to die!"

The courage of the Queen as she stood ramrod straight had a calming effect on the guard and all those nearby who heard her. The resolve of the white-clad radiant Queen was beyond words.

"My Queen." He breathed the words like a prayer to the gods and began barking orders.

"Gather everyone in the courtyard!" He shouted out the door to the nearest trembling and fearful guards. "The whole palace leaves, down to the last child and scullery maid! Nobody gets left behind, by Order of Her Majesty!"

If there ever were disloyal thoughts in those who heard his command, such thoughts were murdered by those who held them in that moment as word spread, while fear was widespread, the chaos settled into swift decisive action by the certitude of the unbowed leadership of the Holy Queen.

She walked the halls with steady, unhurried steps, "Make sure you take enough food, forget the flour, only take meat, vegetables, and fruits, we need all the space we can make." She said to a matronly older woman whose shaking limbs unthinkingly held a flour sack in the underfloors.

Minutes later, Calca touched the shoulder of a trembling guard outside who held nervous, neighing, nickering horse reins and listening to the roar of fighting outside as the riots went on.

Screams from those caught outside could be heard every now and then, the once proud status of 'public official' became a death sentence in the hands of the mob. Fires were so high that even beyond the high walls, she could see the flickering orange lights and sparks that licked at the sky like hungry dogs.

The smoke rose from multiple points around the city as fine homes were set to the torch.

"Don't be afraid, young man." Calca said with a serene smile, "The gods will look after us, and if it comes down to it, I won't let them have those who have given me their lives… you'll see tomorrow, I promise you."

His lower lip trembled at her kind and gentle words, and he shook his head, the clink of armor as he forced a fragile smile down at her, to have so slight and fragile looking a woman promise to protect him both shamed and hardened him at once.

"My Queen, w-we will get you out. Don't worry." He said to her, vowing in his heart of hearts that none would lay a hand on her except if she should offer them her touch as she now did for him.

The wagons and carriages were plentiful, and where they were lacking, the horses were many more. The vast palace of the mighty Holy Kingdom was well provided for, even with its large staff of nobles, peasants, and soldiers alike, and so there was space for all in the impromptu column.

But the loudest voice of all, was so loud that it could even be heard among the cacophony of the riot beyond the walls. Archers up above had their bows out and began to fire, but still shouting, oblivious to the danger, was Remedios Custodio.

"Damn it, put me down! I can settle this myself!" She howled as Gotsa hurried outside and ignored her protests, she was slung over his shoulder like an undignified sack of potatoes, potatoes that were vigorously protesting the way they were carried.

"Queen's orders, so shut up!" He barked, and still Remedios howled with outrage.

She missed seeing Calca as she shouted at the captain of the guard, her arms and legs wiggled uselessly as she was thrown bodily into a wagon where she landed in a crumpled heap between several servants.

"Is my brother secured?" The Queen demanded, and Captain Gotsa answered immediately, this time approaching and kneeling in her presence.

"Yes, My Queen, anybody left in the palace now is hiding from us." He said and bowed his head.

Queen Calca put a hand on his head, "Well done, my Captain, now we can go. Call the guards from the wall, and sound the retreat, let the rest of the city guard follow after us."

Calca then went to her ornate blue and white carriage and waited while the footman opened the door and allowed her in. She was seated before the horn trumpeted again, the orders understood by others, the guards on the wall began to run down the tower steps and hop into wagons near the rear as the column rolled out.

The gate opened, she couldn't see, but heard it, the steady groan of metal as the portcullis went up filled her with dread that had her heart racing in her breast. 'How could this have happened?!' She asked herself as she heard Gotsa blow his command horn and the knights in front of her snap down their lances, the column began to roll out at speed, and Calca peaked past the blue curtains of her carriage to see the chaos outside.

Here and there, to her horror, some of her soldiers, men from the front of her column, peeled away and were engaged with the mob, swords sprayed blood and limbs, hammers split skulls like melons, now and then she saw a horse fall with a whinnying scream as it and the rider were brought down by a lucky spear thrust. The soldiers who fell, did not get back up.

Still, they rode on as precious space was bought in blood and lives as they raced for the exit.

Hate-filled and twisted, dirty faces flashed past her, there and gone in an instant, but they were so many… so very many that it was like they were all one person. Here and there she caught a glimpse of a public official being hanged, screaming for help that wasn't coming, a man fell burning in the street, and the rioters merely went around him, her carriage bounced as it hit a bump. Part of her knew exactly what that bump was, and Calca immediately bent forward and vomited on the dark floor of her carriage, adding a foul smell to her sense of fear and despair.

'How… how… how can this be?!' She asked again as they made it out of the city and the countryside opened up before her on the long road to Kalinsha.

But no matter how long she stared outside, no matter how long she looked out of the window and back at the burning capital city, no answer came to her, and that only made everything worse.