Chapter 219

Gustav's heart was tight in his chest, he could barely breathe, the eyes, those narrow, vicious eyes so filled with fury, the same as the day he let her be lashed to the post to die. 'I couldn't tell her, I still hear her scream at night… I couldn't talk her down… maybe I didn't have a right to. Maybe this is what we get? Maybe this is divine retribution for our corruption. If it is… it is fitting. I'd have offered my own life if I thought it would do any good.' And yet he was afraid to die, and though he told himself he would have done it… he could have anyway and hadn't. 'Don't blame yourself, only a mad fool offers their life on the mere hope that it may possibly save someone else…'

He shook his head from atop his mount, he was days away from the wall and on his side of it again, making him safe. And yet the chill still swept over him as if those eyes were lingering on the back of his head.

'Next time I meet her, I have to try to kill her.' That was an ugly thought, 'Could I?' He wondered? The Huntress of the Wilds had the greatest senses in the Holy Kingdom, rumor had it that she knew danger was coming from so far away that she had time to prepare a hundred traps before her prey came within a hundred yards. Her former skills as an archer… She was also the only one who could imbue her arrows with mana, making her uniquely deadly at a great distance. 'And that was before her… metamorphosis.' Gustav gulped, before her present state, he was confident he could have beaten her up close, but now? There was no way to know.

He looked around him on the road, seeking answers among the autumn blooms of the trees, while most plants began to die in autumn, a handful had one final bloom, fruit trees and flowers that would fall to the ground the day before the first snow, the flowers would provide the bedding of the fruit, the snow would cover both, providing water, and when the snow melted the fruit would sink into the mud, the fruit would shrivel into a fertile seed, and a new tree would begin to grow.

Countless poets had written about it over the years, though Gustav never paid much mind to poetry, it was something he liked at least, like a last defiance of the winter before it came.

His horse clip clopped along the road and Gustav saw no reason to hurry it at the present, a messenger would have already raced ahead to Her Majesty, and he had no desire to face her, or Kelart, or Remedios. 'What about the South… the issues there are ongoing… will they support us if we are invaded…?' It was hard to imagine that they wouldn't. The demihumans were always the traditional enemies of humanity.

'Whatever happens now, it's out of my hands, all the world's a stage, and as for my part, whatever happens… I think I must have played mine very poorly…' Gustav weighed and measured his character, found it wanting, and recalled the words of the peasant whore who mocked him the night after the trial, who taunted him about her role in its corruption by simply playing with the nobles.

'She may very well have just brought us all down… one peasant… no… I can't hold it all on her, I did nothing. One judge, one peasant… one paladin fool… it doesn't take much to bring down a Kingdom, does it?' He acknowledged the truth of the rhetorical question, and her following words about… 'What was it… if the side you want to join doesn't exist… make it? Or something like that, wasn't it?' He couldn't clearly recall her words, but taunting as it might have been… even if he remembered it wrongly, that was the gist, and she had a point.

His eyes leveled ahead of himself, and he patiently began to contemplate what kind of side that might really be, and wonder if it could truly be done.

Duke Astraka stood in the path of the door while the Prince looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious?! You want to overthrow my sister?!"

"No, but she left us little choice. Do you know how many of our people died in the capital because of her? Then she demands more taxes from us on top of it? Absolutely not. Wenmark was destroyed, the elves rose in rebellion, and yet she has sent nobody to put them down… she sent tax collectors but no support. The South does not want to defend the North any longer." He said with a quiet calm. "If the gods wills it," Astraka folded his hands behind his back and inclined his head, "she will simply abdicate and acknowledge you as the rightful Holy King. You will then be released to take your place, on condition that you grant us immediate independence."

"You don't want to defend the North?! The North defends you, you blistering idiot!" Caspond blasted back. "What will you do about the Demihumans if they come through the North?!" Caspond demanded to know, and contrary to his expectation, Duke Astraka simply shrugged.

"Trade with them, I suppose. I lost more of my family to humans than I ever did to demihumans. I've already spoken with the Frost Queen, and she is really quite… reasonable." Astraka pointed out, and then went quiet, allowing that to sink in.

"Traitor! You were supposed to bring me South to ensure my safety!" Caspond bellowed and tried to shoot to his feet, but the magic chair would not allow him to move.

"And safe you shall be." Astraka said and gestured with one large meaty hand to the luxuriously appointed quarters. "Right here in the tower. Under constant guard. You have a fine bed, will be fed according to your station, provided a servant, even bedmates if you want them, boy or girl, we're not fussy about that kind of thing here in the South. But you will have to wait while we deal with the issue of your sister. After that…" He waved toward the door, "We will let you go, and if you want to make war on us, remember… it wasn't the South that betrayed the Frost Queen. She will make an excellent ally against any Northern aggression for… however long dragonids live at the very least."

"Bastard!" Caspond bellowed and kicked and flailed hopelessly in the chair which held him fast.

"Don't bother trying to get out of the chair, it won't let you up until I close that door from the other side, after that… you're free to move around and I will send attendants to you." Astraka promised and folded his hands behind his back again.

Caspond relaxed and narrowed his eyes, "Do you really expect to get away with this?"

Duke Astraka seemed to contemplate that for several long seconds, searching Caspond's eyes for something only he might see, before at last he answered.

"You never get away with things you don't even try to do, Prince Caspond. And this is something we- I… have to try. Goodnight." Duke Astraka remarked and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him, ending the magic that held the Prince stuck and allowing him to stand up again.