Chapter XVI

“You were a good man and a great leader, Eyal. Know that as we commend your soul to Heaven that we loved you and we will miss you.” It was a weak eulogy, Jachai thought, considering all that his father had sacrificed, but the priest barely knew the Grand Duke, how could he speak to his deeds? In life Grand Duke Eyal had been a key figure in defending Arx, and in conquering Nihilus after their failed invasion. But even the best warrior, who manages to fight off death until his old age, cannot escape it forever. Now he was in a coffin, being lowered into a deep pit, as deep as they could bury him.

All throughout the funeral Jachai never shed a tear. His father had always taught him to be strong at all times, “A leader must never show even the smallest sign of weakness,” he'd said. Jachai thought it a better way to honor his father if he simply watched his burial with quiet contemplation, reverence, and even pride. Yes, he thought back on all of his father's finest moments, those moments which filled Jachai with pride, the moments when his father forged him into the man he was today.

After the funeral Jachai met with his father's steward, in the Grand Duke's fortress, to discuss his inheritance. “Now that you're Grand Duke you'll have to find someone else to rule the Duchy of Nihilus.”

“I'll try again to conceive a child with my wife,” said Jachai. “She can rule as the Duchess until a son is born.”

“Glad you thought of this already,” said the steward. “I can administer the oath to make you part of the Council, then. Do you already know the words?”

“Yes, I've been studying them for a long time.” Jachai cleared his throat, “I, Jachai, do solemnly swear total loyalty to the realm of Arx. I hereby swear off all rights to the crown for myself, and swear that I will never send a soldier to conduct a dangerous mission which I would be afraid to conduct myself. I swear that I shall rule with justice, wisdom, and temperance. I swear that should my death be required in order to save the kingdom I shall give it freely and happily.”

“Good. As of this moment you are the Grand Duke. The army is loyal to the Queen first and to you second.” The steward handed Jachai his badge of office, which he hooked onto his shirt immediately.

“One more thing before you go.” The steward produced a small, sealed letter from his coat pocket. “Your father asked me to hold onto this, and to give it to you when you inherited his estate. This letter has been sealed for many years, and I was told only you were allowed to read it.”

Jachai looked curiously at the letter as he took it from the steward. “Thank you.” Jachai left the meeting hall and made his way up to his father's office. He realized that if the letter was important enough to seal and command the steward to allow only Jachai to read it that he might want to read it somewhere private. His father's office was collecting dust. It had been years since Jachai had been in there. He remembered when he was a child and used to come running into the office begging his father to play with him, but the Grand Duke was always going over strategies, whether studying maps or reading books. In time, Jachai learned to either not bother his father when he was in the study, or to study the maps and books with him.

Jachai sat in his father's old, leather chair, picked up his letter opener, and broke the seal on the letter.

“My son,

“I have instructed my steward to only allow you to read this letter, and only after I am deceased. You are the Grand Duke now, a member of the Council and the protector of the realm. You, in cooperation with the Chancellor and the Arch-Bishop, will have the power to crown or depose kings and queens. That being said, there is a secret you should know.

“A select few have known about this secret for a while, and have been keeping the secret so that we could safeguard the security of the realm. Aryn, the queen who undoubtedly now sits upon the throne of Arx, is not King Hadar's daughter. The late King Hadar, who gave his life to save the kingdom, was a lover of men. The geomancer Kamal confirmed that King Hadar had a male lover, whose identity is unimportant.

“Obviously, with this information in mind, we realized that when Queen Sarahi became pregnant that the child was clearly not Hadar's, and we confronted her concerning the identity of the father. It seems the Martyr King conspired with his queen and his bodyguard, Sir Milo. Sir Milo and Queen Sarahi were in love, and Aryn is Sir Milo's daughter, not King Hadar's.

“It is important for you to know this so that you may help in protecting this secret. Should anyone who threatens the realm even BEGIN to suspect Aryn's true parentage you must make sure they are silenced immediately. Aryn may not be of royal blood, but now that you have sworn an oath to renounce all claim to the throne she is the clearest heir. Most of the noble houses of Arx have some royal heritage as well, meaning that they each would consider themselves claimants to the throne. While they may seem kind enough now the promise of a crown will turn them into monsters. Those who'd never dreamed of murder before will kill anyone for that much power. For the sake of peace you must keep this secret safe.

“Sincerely,

“Grand Duke Eyal”

Jachai nearly dropped the letter before finishing it. This news shattered his understanding of everything that had been going on in Arx. Sure, there was precedent in the law for lords and ladies to name adopted children the heirs to their estates, but never before had kings or queens done this, and in order for adopted heirs to be valid they needed to be declared heirs during their mutual lifetimes. The fact that Hadar had died before Aryn was even born meant that he could not declare her his heir. Furthermore, unlike the noble houses, royal blood was actually sacred, God had blessed King Melech's bloodline. Everything about Aryn's coronation had been illegal, possibly even blasphemous, and Jachai's father had gone along with it. This girl of a queen was a commoner, a commoner wearing a crown.

It was then that Jachai realized a much better reason to keep this a secret; undoubtedly the commoners believed Aryn to be a great leader. If they knew that she was actually common-born they'd begin to think that any of them could make a great leader. More peasants would start rising up against their lords than ever before, believing that they could do better. The whole kingdom would fall apart in a generation if the common rabble were allowed to rule. Jachai had long thought highly of his brother, the man who'd given his life for Arx, but in that moment he cursed him for allowing this.

“'Forgive me this interruption, my lord, but a message has arrived for you,' said the messenger.

“'A message?' repeated Lanzo, taking the letter.

“'Yes, from Arx, apparently. Must have made a few friends while you were abroad, yes?'

“'I make friends everywhere I go,' said Lanzo, smirking confidently.

“The seal was hers, he knew it. He'd never seen it before, but something about the symbol of the dove with four wings just screamed 'Nitza.' He needed to read it in private, if anyone knew of their love it could ruin everything. He retreated to his room immediately, dismissing the slave who was cleaning it, and locked the door behind him. In a flash he'd torn through the seal, with all the same vigor he'd had each time he'd torn through her robes again and again, and drawn the letter from the envelope to read its contents.

“have you in my bed once more,

“Sincerely,

“Your Flower.

“Nitza certainly had a way with words. Everything she wrote brought to his memory their intimate moments...”

Liat turned back and forth between the two pages twice, re-reading the transition between the paragraph at the end of one page and the, apparently, entirely different paragraph on the next page. Then she looked up in the corners and realized the reason for the confusion: a page in between was missing. Grigori must have dropped a page at some point when he was reading her book. The thing wasn't bound yet, given that it was unfinished, so one page could have easily slipped out. She went pale thinking about what might happen if the wrong person found the page. She had very distinct hand-writing, so it wouldn't take a literate person working in the castle long to figure out the writing was hers.

Liat rushed down the halls of the castle, heading straight to Grigori's room, where she knocked on the door frantically. “Who is it?” came Grigori's voice from within.

“It's me, please open up.”

Grigori opened the door for Liat and let her in. It was late at night, so he was clad in his sleeping gown and rubbing his eyes. “What's going on?”

As soon as the door closed Liat whispered to him, “A page is missing from my love story,” Liat said.

Grigori blinked and stared at her for a second, “I'm sorry...I can't tell if that's a figure of speech or if you mean...”

“Literally!” Liat said, showing him where the book went from page 40 to page 42.

“It must have fallen out,” Grigori said.

“Yes! And if anyone else finds it they'll...I'm not ready for everyone to know about the book yet!”

“Alright, look, calm down. We'll search my room, and then retrace my steps from here to your room, alright?”

“Alright.”

The two of them searched all over Grigori's room, moving aside his bed, the bedside table, and the dresser, but all the while trying to make as little noise as they could so as not to wake anyone. It was late at night, and most of the castle's residents were asleep. When they moved the bed aside a mouse went scurrying away, under the gap between the door and the floor, causing both Grigori and Liat to nearly scream, but both managed to cover their mouths before the sound got out. Liat gave Grigori an incredulous look and raised an eyebrow.

“What? It startled me,” he said.

They continued their search, still not finding any trace of the missing page. Grigori was beginning to believe that it was not he but rather Liat who lost the page, but he wasn't about to say that to her.

Their search was interrupted by another knock on the door. Both of them exchanged worried looks. If someone saw her in his room this late at night there would be all sorts of questions raised. “Who is it?” Grigori asked, easily banishing nervousness from his voice.

“It's Sahar.”

Grigori gestured for Liat to hide in the wardrobe and said, “Who?”

“The Duke's-”

“Squire, I know, I'm joking with you,” Grigori said. As soon as Liat had squeezed her way into the wardrobe Grigori went to the door. “Yes, what is it? Why do you bother me this late?”

“I just thought you'd like to see this.” Sahar held up a small talisman. It was made of wood, painted black, and shaped like an X. “I think it's a blackstar talisman.” Sahar was a little nervous as he held it, as if he was expecting the enchantment to go off at any moment.

“An incomplete one,” Grigori said. “It's missing the iron core, so don't worry.” Blackstar talismans were objects enchanted to conjure demons. While warlocks and witches could often conjure demons in their own presence all the time, these talismans could be left somewhere and enchanted to summon a demon when someone entered the room, or after a certain amount of time.

“I found it in the kitchens,” Sahar said.

“What were you doing there so late?”

“Getting a midnight snack. What? I've been training my sword technique all day, all that exercise makes me hungry!”

“Fair enough. And this incomplete talisman was where?”

“In the cupboard, where the cheese is kept.”

Grigori needed to get Sahar away from there so that Liat could stop hiding in the wardrobe, it couldn't have been comfortable in there. “Why don't you show me?” he asked.

Sahar led Grigori down the halls of the castle and to the kitchens. The door to the cupboard where the cheese was kept was left wide open, and there was a wedge of cheese with a big slice in it, freshly cut by the looks of it. Sahar pointed to the corner just behind that. “I sliced myself a piece of cheese and the talisman was sitting right behind it.”

“A poor hiding place,” said Grigori. “This means that our infiltrator isn't too bright. Of course, they think of Cory and Therion as heroes, so how bright can they be?”

Sahar chuckled at Grigori's joke. “This would indicate that a member of the kitchen staff is a Nihilite infiltrator, right?”

Grigori patted Sahar on the shoulder, “No, all this means is that a Nihilite infiltrator is in the castle. Anyone who has access to the kitchens could have made this talisman. They might have decided that the cheese pantry was a better hiding place than their own room, for obvious reasons.”

“You want me to round up all of the servants in the castle so that you can question them?”

“No. I'll question them individually, but I'll want you with me, in case something goes wrong. I'm not quite as spry as I used to be.” As he said it, he realized that he could have been. If he hadn't been spending the past sixteen years all but destroying his health, wallowing in his misery and worthlessness, he'd be strong and confident enough to handle minor threats like this on his own. “What I would like, though, is a list of all of the most recently-hired members of the staff. The steward should know.”

“You think it's someone more recently hired?”

“It's more likely than someone who's been in the castle for years,” Grigori said. “Wake the steward, have him put together a list for me. I'm getting to the bottom of this. Also...have the guards lock up any iron the blacksmiths might be working with. Obviously we can't lock up every bit of iron in this castle.” Grigori looked at the door hinges, torch sconces, and the bars in the windows; all made of iron. “But we can at least make it more difficult for whoever it is to complete any talismans.”

“I'll see to it,” Sahar said, giving Grigori a bow before walking off.