Chapter 18
“Does Branden have some sort of medical condition?” Aislynn asked, stretching her arms out to the right at waist level, her back parallel to the ground.
“Yes,” Byron answered, watching Aislynn bend, stretch and show off that wonderful body of hers. “He’s been prone to devastating head pains since he was a small child. Why do you ask?”
“I went to see the healers yesterday, to get some more salve for these lovely bruises, and while I was there, I overheard a couple of healers talking about Branden. He hasn't been there to get his normal medications in quite some time,” Aislynn explained as she slowly stretched her muscles and ribs, straightening and reaching her arms up toward the sky. “They were concerned about the possibility that he has been experimenting with some other medicine, perhaps something unknown.”
Byron just watched as Aislynn stretched, appreciating the view as he always did, as he mulled that over. “That possibility would certainly go along with what my boys reported yesterday,” he said finally.
“Oh?” Aislynn asked, dropping her hands toward the ground now, and reaching for her left ankle.
“I had a couple of guards head out into the city following Branden when he went off on his own, like you requested. I sent a pair of them so that if anyone asked, they could say that they were off duty and on leave. They followed him as far as the marketplace before losing him amongst some stalls, but they reported that the area of the market he was in is the one where they sell all sorts of herbs and plants. They managed to spot him again a few hours later, still in that area, coming out of a tavern in the company of some of our Madelian friends.”
“I wonder what sort of thing could cause Branden’s anger and aggression while still suppressing his headaches,” Aislynn asked aloud, reaching now for her right ankle. “And I wonder if he’s getting it from the Madelians or if they’re just spending time drinking together. Admittedly, it would be a strange coincidence for Branden to just happen to choose them for drinking companions, but stranger things have happened.”
Standing upright again, Aislynn signaled Byron over to help her with the next stretch, and the two continued to think in silence.
“He loves you, you know,” Byron began.
“Who? Branden?” Aislynn asked with a laugh. Nothing could be farther from the truth, based on the way he reacted to her.
Byron laughed too, but more quietly and with less mirth.
“No, Eryk,” he clarified. “I think it started that very first day when you yelled at him in the courtyard, and I believe that is why he reacted so badly to the perceived betrayal when Tarren was killed.”
Aislynn rolled her eyes, but Byron was behind her and couldn't see. “And how do you know that, oh Captain of the Castle Gossips?” she asked, but her sarcasm was lost on him. He’d been thinking about it quite a bit since his brief meeting with Eryk in the study, and he was sure of his conclusions. Byron had been around for a number of years, and he’d seen love in a variety of forms. Heck, he’d found himself subject to it, once or twice…and recently.
“Eryk stopped me yesterday after breakfast, to ask me to keep an eye on Branden, and I mentioned that you had requested the same thing,” Byron explained. “When he asked when I had seen you, I told him about our morning meetings, and he suddenly became very–”
“Jealous?” Aislynn asked, cutting him off mid-sentence.
“Yeah. How did you know that?”
“Because Eryk just walked through the door into the courtyard, he can see you holding onto me and there are waves of jealousy radiating off of him,” Aislynn replied. She could feel the jealousy through the link, very strongly.
Byron immediately let go of her hands and took two big steps away from her.
“Hey,” she complained, “I thought you were helping me stretch.”
“Not while his Majesty is glaring at me like that, I’m not.”
Aislynn sighed, and still not looking at Eryk, she called him over. “Why don’t you come over here and help me finish up, Eryk, since our brave captain here is convinced that you'll have him beheaded if he continues to help.”
Eryk blushed at her words. He had been thinking something along those lines, he realized, jealousy fading into embarrassment. He did walk over and take Aislynn’s hands, holding her arms behind her back while she leaned away from him, stretching the muscles in her back and shoulders.
The three of them remained caught in the awkward silence until Aislynn was finished with her exercises, and then Eryk spoke.
“I came to invite you to join us at breakfast this morning,” he said.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Aislynn asked. Having Branden and Alexius there would be intolerable if Eryk was planning to moon over her, which she was coming to realize was a very real possibility.
“Please,” he begged. “We can keep it very formal, if you’d like, your Highness.” It was obvious that he really wanted her there, so she found herself agreeing despite her apprehension.
“Well, in that case, your Majesty, I'll excuse myself and go to dress appropriately. I'll see you both soon.”
Aislynn turned and started to walk across the courtyard. Cheta hopped up from where she had been laying and trotted over to Byron, giving him a swift lick on his hand as she passed. She then proceeded to go over to Eryk, and she sat down in front of him, looking him up and down. She looked so much like the matriarch of a family trying to decide if a gentleman caller was good enough for her daughter that Byron started to laugh. Finally, Cheta rose to her feet, and followed Aislynn out of the courtyard, not looking at Eryk again.
“What was that all about?” Eryk asked Byron, confused.
“I’m honestly not sure,” Byron replied, still chuckling quietly to himself.
“Well Cheta seems to like you well enough. What’s your secret?”
Byron shrugged. “I don’t really have a secret, but I do know that I’m not going around announcing my love for her other half, for starters.”
Eryk blushed, confirming Byron’s suspicions. Byron took a deep breath and then continued as if he hadn’t noticed. “I suspect that if you want to win Aislynn, you’re going to have to start by impressing Cheta. Good luck with that.”
Byron left to get himself ready for breakfast, chuckling again as he strode away. Eryk was left standing alone, wondering how he was supposed to win over a wolf, let alone the assassin he wanted to marry. Now, more than ever, Eryk wished that his best friend hadn't apparently gone totally insane. Branden would have been great to talk to, right about now.
Breakfast turned out to be just as painful as Aislynn had predicted, and she spent her time pointedly ignoring more than half of the people seated at the table. She was glad that she’d at least been able to spare Marja this torture.
Alexius was glaring daggers at her from across the table, and Cora was definitely on her side. The two women carried on a conversation between them, just loud enough that it was obvious that they wanted to be overheard. They discussed everything from what the autumn wedding would be like, to what the children could possibly look like, considering Alexius was blond and Eryk had dark hair.
Among the men, Branden spent the meal trying to argue with Eryk about the fact that Aislynn was there at all, but Eryk pretended not to hear him. Durham spent his meal looking between Aislynn, Eryk and Branden speculatively, and Byron tried to keep from laughing the whole time. The only real highlight of the meal was Davin.
When Aislynn had neared the dining hall earlier, Cheta had suddenly bounded on ahead, obviously eager to see someone. The squeals of delight that soon sounded from inside the room quickly identified who that was. When Aislynn entered the room herself, she found Davin sprawled out on the floor with Cheta standing astride him, licking his face while he squirmed and giggled. Aislynn couldn't help but smile herself, but she quickly reined Cheta in, remembering how Durham had reacted to the wolf that first night.
Througho
ut the meal, Davin kept tossing Cheta tidbits under the table when he thought that nobody was looking, and he spent his time speaking with Aislynn. They talked about Davin’s plans for the day and he asked her why she had been absent from the breakfast table for the past few days. She didn't want to lie to the boy, but she couldn't tell him the truth either, so she opted for the “sickness” excuse. It wasn’t her fault if the sickness keeping her away was Branden’s and not hers. Davin seemed satisfied by that, and the conversation turned to a less dangerous topic.
After the painful ordeal was over, Aislynn was happy to leave the very unfriendly room as quickly as possible, but Eryk caught up with her at the door.
“I was wondering if you’d like to join me for a ride this afternoon,” he asked. “I’m sure that Cheta would love to have a good run outside of the castle, and I know that you haven’t had time to go for a ride since you arrived here.”
Aislynn smiled, genuinely pleased with the idea. “That would be wonderful,” she said sincerely.
“Great! I have a meeting with the Madelian emissaries this morning, so I'll meet you in the courtyard around midday. I'll have someone pack a meal to take with us, if that suits you.”
Aislynn nodded her agreement, and then started down the hall. If Eryk would be in a diplomatic meeting all morning, Branden would be sure to be with him, acting in his capacity of chief advisor. That would give Aislynn plenty of time to look around Branden’s rooms to see if she could find anything out of the ordinary.
She returned to her own rooms for a little while, gathering a few things that she might need, and after she was sure that the meeting must have started, she and Cheta ventured down the hall to where Branden’s suite was located.
Getting into the suite was easy enough. Aislynn had Cheta scout the hall ahead and stand guard in case someone ventured down the corridor in her direction, and she selected a couple of picks to use on the lock. The lock on the door was a very simple one, and she had it picked open in no time, making a mental note to change the lock on her own door. Aislynn eased the door open and listened intently, and once she was satisfied that there wasn’t anyone inside, she called to Cheta and they entered the suite, shutting the door firmly behind them.
Branden’s rooms seemed fairly typical of what she would expect of a male his age. The décor struck her as very similar to her brother’s rooms back home, full of heavy, functional furniture, and bold colors. The reception room consisted of a couch and chair, both with wood stained a dark brown and with padding covered in a deep red fabric. The rug on the floor featured geometric patterns in red, black and yellow, and the table set in front of the couch sported red and black tiles inlaid in a checkerboard pattern.
Looking around quickly, Aislynn couldn’t see anything unusual or out of place, and she moved into the bedroom for a quick examination of that area. This room was set up in a manner very similar to her own. There was a large bed set against the far wall, again in that heavy, dark-stained wood, and a matching wardrobe was set on the adjoining wall. There was a window in this room, which Aislynn noted was closed and barred, despite the lovely day outside. Beside the window was a desk and matching chair, and it was the desk that Aislynn investigated first.
Riffling through the papers that she found on the top of the desk, Aislynn didn’t discover anything terribly interesting, but she did note that Branden seemed to spend a lot of time writing to himself when he read something. There were notes on nearly every page she saw, and many of the notes were in reply to previous notes that he had written to himself. The drawers of the desk didn't reveal anything either, containing nothing but writing supplies. Disappointed, Aislynn continued to investigate the room, checking under the bed and inside the wardrobe.
The wardrobe proved to be the more interesting of the two locations, and Aislynn found all sorts of fascinating items as she looked through the pockets of Branden’s clothing. It looked like he had been spending a fair amount of time at a local tavern, likely the one that Byron had mentioned that morning. Aislynn’s search revealed a number of chits from one particular establishment. It also looked as if Branden didn't have a particular drink he favored over any other; these chits were for all sorts of alcohol, including wine, beer and whiskey. The amounts led her to believe that he was indeed drinking with company, and he seemed to foot the bill a lot of the time.
Aislynn also found a small package that contained a number of very tiny green seeds. Wondering if these seeds could possibly be the alternative medication that Branden seemed to be taking, she slipped a few onto one of the old tavern chits and folded the chit into a little package to keep the seeds safe. She planned to take the seeds to a healer to see if someone could identify them and if so, to find out if they could possibly be the source of the irrational behavior that Branden had been demonstrating. She definitely didn't want to lose them.
Cheta’s low growl as she flew into the room and skidded under the bed was Aislynn’s only warning. She too flung herself across to the bed, trusting in Cheta as always, and she scuttled under it just as she heard footsteps enter the outer room. Peeking out from under the bed covers, wincing from where she had bumped her healing ribs, Aislynn noticed there were two people who walked into the bedroom.
“See?” said a low, growling voice. “It’s empty, just like his Lordship promised. He said that he’d be in the meeting all morning, so it would be the perfect time to drop it off.”
“What happens if the meeting ends early?” asked the second voice, higher than the first, but still definitely male. Both voices had the odd accent she had first heard from the Madelian emissaries, which meant that these men were likely the guards for those same emissaries.
“This won’t take long. His Lordship said that the money would be in the drawer of the table beside the bed, and that we should leave the package there.”
Aislynn saw a pair of heavy boots come into view close beside the bed, and heard the sound of a drawer opening. Next, the chink of coins sounded as the man picked up a pouch that had obviously been waiting there.
“Should we count it?” asked the second man. He seemed to be nervous, questioning everything. Aislynn couldn't see his feet, but she could hear him shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously while he waited, causing a slight scuffling sound. She knew his general location in the room from that sound.
“Don’t be an idiot,” scoffed the first voice. “If he said that the deal had been arranged with his Lordship, then the deal is arranged. Do you want to second guess him?”
Considering the way the first man spoke of “him”, Aislynn believed that it was someone whom both of the men feared. Could it be one of the emissaries? “His Lordship” was obviously Branden, and she suspected that any dealings he had with the Madelians were far from healthy, or legal, given the secrecy surrounding this exchange.
“Definitely not!” protested the other man. “Even Kardon and Sookra do what he says, so who am I to question?” So this “he” is not one of the emissaries, Aislynn noted quietly to herself. Were her suspicions correct? Was Madelia harboring the assassins?
The men quickly finished the errand they had been sent to do, and left the room. Aislynn and Cheta stayed under the bed for a while longer, making sure that they had gone, and as soon as Aislynn emerged from hiding, she went immediately to the drawer in the bedside table. Pulling it open, she saw a small package, very similar to the one that she had found in Branden’s pocket. Upon examination, she found that this new package also contained the tiny seeds. They were definitely an important piece of the puzzle.
Feeling that she had discovered all that she was going to in Branden’s rooms, Aislynn and Cheta eased out of the door and into the hall. They went first to Aislynn’s rooms, where she left a small number of the seeds that she had taken, and then they went to the guard barracks to find Byron.
It would be better for Byron to investigate the tavern and the seeds, she decided, because at lea
st he had official sanction from the king. She, on the other hand, was simply snooping around as far as anyone would be concerned. Her word had no weight here, especially not where Branden was concerned.
Byron, it turned out, was somewhere out on the castle walls doing an inspection of the guards on duty, so Aislynn was forced to wait for him. While she waited, she decided to explore the barracks’ armory, a place that she had seen briefly on her tour of the building but somewhere that she had not spent any time.
The door was open, and a guardsman greeted her when she walked in.
“Good morning Princess,” he said cheerfully. “What can I help you with?”
Aislynn smiled to herself, thankful that Byron had had the opportunity to introduce her to his men. Before that, she would likely have had to sneak in here for a look, since a lady of her rank wouldn't normally be found in a place like this.
“Honestly,” she answered, “I’m just looking around, killing some time. I figured that it would be good to know what’s on hand, so I know what I can practice with in the mornings.”
She wandered around the room, thrilled by the scope of the weapons present and the logical organization of them. The wall to the left of the door held all of the regular issue weapons, organized by size. The daggers were closest to the door, followed by the short swords and long swords. Next to those, at the far end of the wall, were the spears and pole arms. The wall across the back of the room held the ranged weapons, including throwing knives, short and long bows, crossbows and javelins, as well as ammunition.
The remaining two walls interested Aislynn the most. These walls held the weapons used least often by the guardsmen, and then only a select few would likely know how to wield them, let alone want to. Here she found throwing axes and hammers, battle-axes, great swords, whips, nets, maces and morning stars. She was familiar with them all, but had never handled a battle-axe or great sword because of their size and weight. She found the morning stars unwieldy, but picked up a throwing axe to test its balance. Perhaps she and Byron should have a contest with axes one morning, she mused, returning the weapon to its place.
Confident that she had likely wasted enough time among the weapons, she thanked the guard and left, hoping that Byron had returned from his tour of the walls. She found him in the dining hall, about to catch a quick meal before his next obligation.
“Byron,” she called, spotting him across the room. He glanced up, and she walked swiftly across the hall and took a seat across from him.
“I found some interesting information this morning,” she began. “I think I confirmed where our friend has been spending a lot of his free time, and I also know what he’s been taking.” A quick glance around the hall before she began had revealed nobody close enough to listen in, but she felt that it was better safe than sorry, so she didn't mention Branden by name.
“The substance in the package should likely go to the healers, and the name of the place where you can find our friend is on the paper,” she said, slipping the folded chit across the table.
Byron palmed the chit, and slipped it into a pocket, not saying a word.
“I have to get ready for my afternoon out, so I'll see you around later.” Aislynn rose from her seat. “Oh, and send someone who could do with a break with Eryk this afternoon.” She thanked Byron with a friendly smile before leaving the barracks and returning to her rooms to change.
Marja was more than eager to help Aislynn pick out an appropriate riding dress when she explained her afternoon plans. Aislynn knew that Marja was dying to comment, but she thankfully kept her thoughts to herself while she helped Aislynn get ready. Marja knew that Aislynn was not going to listen to a word she said anyway, so why waste her breath. She hoped that the princess would come to her senses in due time, but there was nothing she could do about it in any case.
Aislynn ended up choosing a dark blue dress, which Marja accented with the jewelry Aislynn had worn to the Courting Ball. Then Marja touched up the cosmetics she’d used that morning to hide Aislynn’s healing bruises, redid Aislynn’s hair to help with the illusion, and pronounced her friend ready for an afternoon out with her king.