Part 2: Secrets in dark places
Part 1: Cloaks and daggers
"Thank you, that'll be all." Aubrey said dismissively as she all but chased the final server out of her suit, laying a hand softly on the wall to re-activate the silencing charm she had put in place the moment they'd returned to the hotel. It would ensure no listening ears - natural or otherwise - would hear a word that any of them said.
The twins had settled themselves awkwardly at either end of the mage's small bed, neither of them trusting the wicker chairs which sat at the table to hold them. Aubrey had no such compunctions, slumping down easily enough and reaching for her still steaming mug of mulled cider as she gestured for the twin's to begin, knowing they wouldn't touch so much as a bread crust until they were done talking. The pair glanced to one another and Aubrey watched the ensuing concert of gestures as intently as a person attempting to solve a riddle. The things left unsaid between them were often as important as what was and Aubrey no longer let even the smallest interaction pass her notice. As such, she knew the moment they agreed on how much to tell her....and that they were not only about to place as much trust in her as they held for one another, but that were about to put her in the most danger she had ever faced in her life.
She looked away, swishing the contents of her mug before taking a considering swallow - and then lifting her eyes once more to meet theirs and nodding once. They were in this together. Hati cleared his throat, and began without preamble.
"The trouble with the royal family started long before we'd ever risen high enough in the ranks of the guard to even know anything was amiss. Everything centers on the man we know as 'Cressida' and what he really is - but to understand 'Cressida', you have to know the secret of Entwilde's founding.”
“The first settlers were more than refugees from the war torn lands beyond the mountains - they were the survivors of a magic driven holocaust. We never heard why, but the people beyond the mountains rose up against magic users - called the power they wielded unnatural and slaughtered them and those who called them friends without mercy. So to Entwilde they fled, exiled from the land they'd called home all their lives."
The mercenary paused and Skoll picked up the thread of the conversation as smoothly as if she'd been the one speaking the entire time.
"Entwilde was far stranger, far more stubborn and feral than they had ever expected. It was the by product of the energies they had borrowed, twisted, and sent back into the earth of their homeland. As it was land that had been made as it was by magic, it could only be unmade by magic - and so they did, stripping the spirit and the heart from the land to tame it and make it habitable. The spirit was not happy about this and resisted, and the people learned quickly that it is hard to fight formless resistance so they bound the spirit of Entwilde to the first and last Mage King, Ephedrus. It was said that in the days after the land was settled, a boy would often be seen following in the king's shadow - dark haired, golden eyed, and pale skinned. His name is written only once in all of history, in the ancient runes of power that no mortal tongue can pronounce. Roughly translated, it reads “Cres'en'a'indastra” - the golden eyed protector. Time passed and as the way of people, the meaning behind the sun and snake marking which brands the chest of each heir to the throne was lost and “the golden eyed protector” became simply known as “watcher” - Cressida. None the less, what has been magic made, and magic tamed, must also be maintained by magic."
When Skoll fell silent, it was Aubrey who picked up the conversation, voice whisper soft and one of horrified awe.
"The Winter Rights. It is why the temples are built at such regular intervals and along all of the strongest the lay lines. I never...not even in the oldest texts. We re-new the binds that keep Entwilde tame and Cressida bound to the royal blood and no one even knows. The elders have kept the secret all this time. All this time.” Aubrey curled her fingers around the curve of her mug so tightly she almost feared the earthen sides would crack, but she could not help but feel betrayed. How could they? For generation after generation, they had blindly performed a ceremony to bend the land to their will. It turned everything she had ever learned - all she had ever believed in the harmony of the powers and the care one should take in using them, every word of magic she had ever spoken became ash in her mouth. “How....how did you....?"
"Cressida told us himself when we agreed to take Benedict to safety." Hati supplied with deadpan candor, Aubrey nearly choking on her own spit at having the answer to one her generation's greatest mystery dropped so casually in her lap.
Skoll cleared her throat and Hati grimaced - clearly, they were getting ahead of themselves. Aubrey took a steadying sip of her cider as she tried to settle this sudden wealth of knowledge in with the rest of what she knew of her kingdom. It all made sense of course - but if Cressida was what he claimed to be, how had no one noticed him until now?
"Cressida is never without at least two binds.” Skoll said, answering the obvious question in the mage's eyes. “One to the present reigning royal and one to the retired royal which is usually still living. Then, depending on circumstances, there is also a third to the heir who is bound to him at the age of eighteen and thus was the case - until Benedict was born. No one knows why, but by the time he was five, it was clear Cressida meant to take him as heir and renounce Samael."
"He can do that?" Aubrey asked sharply, sitting up so rigidly in her chair that it creaked in protest.
"He can, but he has rarely disagreed with the king's choice in heirs, be they male or female." Skoll said darkly. "We had wondered why we were assigned the duty of watching over a child - royal or not - but Cressida made it clear in no uncertain terms that we were sworn to protect Benedict's life no matter what the cost, and would be held accountable by him if by no one else and he is not a creature to which one wishes to owe reparation. By the time he was twelve, Benedict had survived three attempts on his life and we were finally making headway on discovering the perpetrator."
"It was Samael. You killed him." Aubrey said softly as she answered the second greatest mystery of her generation's time.
"We killed him - but it wasn't Samael." the twins answered in unison, the weight of their anger and their regret almost unbearable as their emerald eyes bore into her own, Aubrey's heart sinking as she tried to delay the realization she could not escape.
"He wouldn't, not his own son."
The twins said nothing, only looked to one another and then down at their hands, Aubrey tenting her fingertips around the now cold sides of her mug as the last few pieces fell into place. With the death of King Thanalen's father only a year after Samael's murder, Cressida had been left freer than he had ever been and he was making use of this opportunity to the best of his ability. She could guess now at the identity of at least two of the nobles they would be escorting to the capital - and their purpose once they got there. Aubrey found herself placed suddenly at the head of, at best, a coupe, at worst, a civil war. She didn't look up when the bed creaked from the lifting of weight, unsurprised by the pair of hands that came to rest on each of her shoulders - Hati's on her left and Skoll's on her right. She let them rest there for a moment, alone and waiting.
Skoll's fingertips pressed into the fabric of her tunic anxiously and it is the only movement either twin makes until the mage lifts her own hands to cover theirs. The tension that had built up in the silence released then with an audible snap, Aubrey laughing weakly as she gives the calloused fingers which turn to curl around her own a squeeze.
"In for a penny, in for a pound. I've never met a prince before." Aubrey adds as she finally releases them, Hati reaching over her immediately for one of the rolls and Skoll moving to the bed once more to drag the spread and pillows to the hearth to add at least a little cushion to the wooden floor.
It wasn't long before they'd transferred the meal from table as well, heads bowed together as they ate.
And planned.
"Thank you, that'll be all." Aubrey said dismissively as she all but chased the final server out of her suit, laying a hand softly on the wall to re-activate the silencing charm she had put in place the moment they'd returned to the hotel. It would ensure no listening ears - natural or otherwise - would hear a word that any of them said.
The twins had settled themselves awkwardly at either end of the mage's small bed, neither of them trusting the wicker chairs which sat at the table to hold them. Aubrey had no such compunctions, slumping down easily enough and reaching for her still steaming mug of mulled cider as she gestured for the twin's to begin, knowing they wouldn't touch so much as a bread crust until they were done talking. The pair glanced to one another and Aubrey watched the ensuing concert of gestures as intently as a person attempting to solve a riddle. The things left unsaid between them were often as important as what was and Aubrey no longer let even the smallest interaction pass her notice. As such, she knew the moment they agreed on how much to tell her....and that they were not only about to place as much trust in her as they held for one another, but that were about to put her in the most danger she had ever faced in her life.
She looked away, swishing the contents of her mug before taking a considering swallow - and then lifting her eyes once more to meet theirs and nodding once. They were in this together. Hati cleared his throat, and began without preamble.
"The trouble with the royal family started long before we'd ever risen high enough in the ranks of the guard to even know anything was amiss. Everything centers on the man we know as 'Cressida' and what he really is - but to understand 'Cressida', you have to know the secret of Entwilde's founding.”
“The first settlers were more than refugees from the war torn lands beyond the mountains - they were the survivors of a magic driven holocaust. We never heard why, but the people beyond the mountains rose up against magic users - called the power they wielded unnatural and slaughtered them and those who called them friends without mercy. So to Entwilde they fled, exiled from the land they'd called home all their lives."
The mercenary paused and Skoll picked up the thread of the conversation as smoothly as if she'd been the one speaking the entire time.
"Entwilde was far stranger, far more stubborn and feral than they had ever expected. It was the by product of the energies they had borrowed, twisted, and sent back into the earth of their homeland. As it was land that had been made as it was by magic, it could only be unmade by magic - and so they did, stripping the spirit and the heart from the land to tame it and make it habitable. The spirit was not happy about this and resisted, and the people learned quickly that it is hard to fight formless resistance so they bound the spirit of Entwilde to the first and last Mage King, Ephedrus. It was said that in the days after the land was settled, a boy would often be seen following in the king's shadow - dark haired, golden eyed, and pale skinned. His name is written only once in all of history, in the ancient runes of power that no mortal tongue can pronounce. Roughly translated, it reads “Cres'en'a'indastra” - the golden eyed protector. Time passed and as the way of people, the meaning behind the sun and snake marking which brands the chest of each heir to the throne was lost and “the golden eyed protector” became simply known as “watcher” - Cressida. None the less, what has been magic made, and magic tamed, must also be maintained by magic."
When Skoll fell silent, it was Aubrey who picked up the conversation, voice whisper soft and one of horrified awe.
"The Winter Rights. It is why the temples are built at such regular intervals and along all of the strongest the lay lines. I never...not even in the oldest texts. We re-new the binds that keep Entwilde tame and Cressida bound to the royal blood and no one even knows. The elders have kept the secret all this time. All this time.” Aubrey curled her fingers around the curve of her mug so tightly she almost feared the earthen sides would crack, but she could not help but feel betrayed. How could they? For generation after generation, they had blindly performed a ceremony to bend the land to their will. It turned everything she had ever learned - all she had ever believed in the harmony of the powers and the care one should take in using them, every word of magic she had ever spoken became ash in her mouth. “How....how did you....?"
"Cressida told us himself when we agreed to take Benedict to safety." Hati supplied with deadpan candor, Aubrey nearly choking on her own spit at having the answer to one her generation's greatest mystery dropped so casually in her lap.
Skoll cleared her throat and Hati grimaced - clearly, they were getting ahead of themselves. Aubrey took a steadying sip of her cider as she tried to settle this sudden wealth of knowledge in with the rest of what she knew of her kingdom. It all made sense of course - but if Cressida was what he claimed to be, how had no one noticed him until now?
"Cressida is never without at least two binds.” Skoll said, answering the obvious question in the mage's eyes. “One to the present reigning royal and one to the retired royal which is usually still living. Then, depending on circumstances, there is also a third to the heir who is bound to him at the age of eighteen and thus was the case - until Benedict was born. No one knows why, but by the time he was five, it was clear Cressida meant to take him as heir and renounce Samael."
"He can do that?" Aubrey asked sharply, sitting up so rigidly in her chair that it creaked in protest.
"He can, but he has rarely disagreed with the king's choice in heirs, be they male or female." Skoll said darkly. "We had wondered why we were assigned the duty of watching over a child - royal or not - but Cressida made it clear in no uncertain terms that we were sworn to protect Benedict's life no matter what the cost, and would be held accountable by him if by no one else and he is not a creature to which one wishes to owe reparation. By the time he was twelve, Benedict had survived three attempts on his life and we were finally making headway on discovering the perpetrator."
"It was Samael. You killed him." Aubrey said softly as she answered the second greatest mystery of her generation's time.
"We killed him - but it wasn't Samael." the twins answered in unison, the weight of their anger and their regret almost unbearable as their emerald eyes bore into her own, Aubrey's heart sinking as she tried to delay the realization she could not escape.
"He wouldn't, not his own son."
The twins said nothing, only looked to one another and then down at their hands, Aubrey tenting her fingertips around the now cold sides of her mug as the last few pieces fell into place. With the death of King Thanalen's father only a year after Samael's murder, Cressida had been left freer than he had ever been and he was making use of this opportunity to the best of his ability. She could guess now at the identity of at least two of the nobles they would be escorting to the capital - and their purpose once they got there. Aubrey found herself placed suddenly at the head of, at best, a coupe, at worst, a civil war. She didn't look up when the bed creaked from the lifting of weight, unsurprised by the pair of hands that came to rest on each of her shoulders - Hati's on her left and Skoll's on her right. She let them rest there for a moment, alone and waiting.
Skoll's fingertips pressed into the fabric of her tunic anxiously and it is the only movement either twin makes until the mage lifts her own hands to cover theirs. The tension that had built up in the silence released then with an audible snap, Aubrey laughing weakly as she gives the calloused fingers which turn to curl around her own a squeeze.
"In for a penny, in for a pound. I've never met a prince before." Aubrey adds as she finally releases them, Hati reaching over her immediately for one of the rolls and Skoll moving to the bed once more to drag the spread and pillows to the hearth to add at least a little cushion to the wooden floor.
It wasn't long before they'd transferred the meal from table as well, heads bowed together as they ate.
And planned.