When they entered the village they were met with surprised stares as the Princess, Sibylla, and the men walked down the center road that was fed by the outer dirt road that they approached from. Most people did not speak to them, the only talk seemed to be confused and concerned whispers. No people as heavily armed as they were had walked on their streets in about two-thousand years. There was also a sense of a lack of concern. The people of Fox Run had forgotten war and conflict for the most part. The crime was rare as everyone knew each other. To become a criminal was to bring shame to their families. Usually, exile or what they called a Fonstast (Forgiveness Journey) was the punishment for dangerous crimes with the exception of murder.

The company passed a small crowd of people, one of whom had a sword girded on his waist.

“Sir, where may I find Lord Joseph?” Kunigunde asked. She had met him before several years prior back when her father was still alive.

“Lord Joseph is away to Deorgrad, Lady Bethel is in the town hall. The building to the East of the High tower is where you want to go.” The man said with a smile, more than happy to help a friend.

“Thank you, sir,” Kunigunde responded with a polite, matching smile.

Down the road they went, some people followed them, continuing to murmur among themselves. Kunigunde ignored them, she was used to having people stare, being one of the most powerful people in the known world. She would wear a dress and a circlet, now she wore armor, and wore hair in a halo braid as a circlet.

The roads gradually became much more luxurious, from dirt, to gravel, to paved with stone. They turned a corner to the right at an intersection near the tower as the man instructed. There was a large door in the tented awning with a man under it. He wielded a spear decorated with turkey feathers near the blade. His guard was casual and not very alert, as he paced around the awning.

“Sir, take me to Lady Bethel, please.” Kunigunde politely asked.

“Lady Bethel is very busy and it is quite unusual for people as heavily armed as you are to request an audience, may I ask your intentions?” The man responded.

“I am Kunigunde Viapacis and I require an audience with Lady Bethel regarding matters that you do not yet need to know about,” Kunigunde responded confidently.

The man looked at her company with glancing eyes between them. “Very well, but please stay with me and keep your hands away from your weapons.” The man said as he turned and opened the doors.

Inside was a small darker foyer with a bright red rug in the middle. The man leads Kunigunde and her company inside. Sibylla was again careful not to tear the rug or scratch the wood with her claws. In the middle of the far end of the square-shaped room was a tight spiral staircase with light from the sun shining from the next floor above. The stairs creaked loudly, nearly as if it was splitting. At the top of the stairs was a room identical in size to the foyer that held many books, presumably of records and finances. There was a hallway leading back further into the structure that they proceeded down until they came to another set of doors with another guard outside of them. The other guard did not say anything as Kunigunde and her company were lead through the doors into a larger room with many tapestries, daybeds, cushions, and rugs.

Near the window on the far end of the room was a shorter woman, standing at chest height when compared to Kunigunde. The woman was wearing a traditional Domaeli dress. A thick ring with the seal of Fox Run was on her left pointer finger. Her face was aged and friendly and her eyes seemed brighter and most. Perhaps the light in the room made this appear so.

The woman gasped. “Kunigunde, is that you? I have not seen you in how long, more than two decades? Your face has not changed at all since I last saw you. I doubt that you remember me. My name is Bethel.” The woman said in excitement. “How is your family? Is your mother here with you?”

Kunigunde looked down. “She is dead. Conrad slew her.”

Lady Bethel’s smile dropped. “Truly?” she asked.

Kunigunde’s eyes again began to water. Lady Bethel again gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes began to cry as well. “Oh, Kunigunde, my dearest condolences!” Lady Bethel said as she approached Kunigunde and embraced her firmly. Kunigunde wrapped her arms around her in return. Love and support, even from what was to her, a stranger, was very comforting. She slowly put her hands behind Bethel’s back.

“Conrad truly killed her? I cannot believe this.” Bethel said with tears coming to her eyes.

“You must believe me, my lady. I would not lie about such things.” Kunigunde responded.

“Pray mercy!” Bethel exclaimed.

Bethel sniffled. “Your mother is so loving and beautiful. Has she been buried?” she asked.

Kunigunde paused, holding back tears. “Her flesh is lying in a morgue. She does not deserve that!”

Bethel let Kunigunde go and lightly grasped her elbows. “If I know your mother as I believe I do, she understands.”

They conversed about the deceased queen for a few more moments. “How may I serve my princess?” Bethel asked.

“Conrad has fled, our friend Sibylla believes past your town,” Kunigunde said as she pointed to her.

“What would you have I or my people do for you?” Bethel asked.

“We need to know where he is. Perhaps you could ask your people if they have seen anything unusual such as missing livestock, food, or items. If you have any inns, ask for unusual guests. If he is here, tell your people not to arrest him without us. He will kill people if he has to. This should be handled by me as he is my blood.” Kunigunde said.

“Very well, I shall have my messengers begin immediately. In the meantime, you may rest in my bower and I will have the maids get you some fresh food and drink.” Bethel insisted.

The same man who escorted them in escorted them to Bethel’s bower. It was farther back in the hall than the archives. Then entered it from a hall as thin as before. The bower’s door was heavier than most of the others. It was decorated with very pronounced artwork of the seal of Fox Run and different seasons in the same scene. The bower was filled with tapestries and curtains. There was a northward facing balcony on the far side of the room. A dark red, almost a blood-red, was heavily favored in this room. Kunigunde ungirded her sword, leaving it by the ‘emperor’ sized bed. She did the same with her armor, gloves, and boots.

Her company was taken to the guest bedrooms on the Western side of the hall. Those rooms were far less luxurious than Bethel’s Bower. The beds were smaller and harder. The one given to Sibylla had a window while the others did not. For her, this was much higher of a standard of living than where she was from. For Eric and Michael, the bedrooms were surprisingly less welcoming than the barracks in Viapacis. However, they did not mind. It was a refreshing stay even if it were to be less than a night as they would rather not be eaten by insects and burned by the sun.

The maids came by to each room, starting with Kunigunde. They gave her clean clothes from Bethel’s wardrobe so her armor could be and clothes could be cleaned and repaired. The robes were fairly small for Kunigunde, as she was a fairly tall Domaeling. Fresh cake-like bread and wine were served to them in abundance.

Later in the day, around 7 o’clock, Bethel came to her bower.

“I am afraid that nothing concerning Conrad has been reported in the main district. My messengers will be asking around the rural lands through the night. They should be back by morning. I assure you that I will inform you immediately. There will be maids and guards outside your room at your call.” She said.

“I was afraid of such,” Kunigunde said with a sigh. “I thank you for your hospitality.”

A dream came to Kunigunde after sleep grabbed her quickly. She was in a place that was not familiar to her. The trees were not as she had seen before. The landscape was very brown, almost dead. Thick black smoke rose from behind the hills. Clouds in the sky were illuminated red from the flaming trees. She felt a liquid run down her face. She lifted her hand and rubbed her face and saw that her hand was covered in blood. There was no pain as she explored her skull with her hands, her ear was severed about halfway, and she could feel her bone with her fingers. Her terror was interrupted by a volley of rifle fire from the valley to her right followed by many screams of pain, making her legs collapse. The screams were unusual, sounding to her like a hog being hit in the gut with a rifle. They were much louder, however, nearly as loud as the volley of rifle discharges. Kunigunde covered her ears with another volley of rifles, this time with thunderous artillery that shook the ground, making a thin cloud of dust rise from the dirt. The bones in her face rattled from the blast.

“Reload!” She heard a female shout. The voice was familiar, but it was too drowned out by combat to be certain who it was. Her first thought was that it sounded like her mother’s voice.

Kunigunde’s eyes opened up, nearly blinded by a line of sunlight that beamed through the red curtains.

The sky was cloudless that morning as the wind blew the faintest of breezes that would only make a candle momentarily wiggle. She sat upright in the bed, thinking about what she had just seen in her sleep.

There was a knock at the door. “Enter!” Kunigunde answered.

Bethel and three of her maids entered with her clothes and armor, cleaned and repaired. “We may have a lead from one of my messengers any moment now. I thought you would want to leave as soon as we know. But of course, you may stay as long as you would like.“ Bethel said.

“Would you have us prepare you a bath, milady?” One of the maids said.

“You have been hospitable enough. The bath that you gifted me last night was more than enough than I can ask for.” Kunigunde said.

“Very well, milady. Only ask and we shall serve.” The maid responded.

She arose out of bed to take the clothes that were cleaned for her. Without asking, the maids began to undress her and replace her old clothes and armor. Kunigunde went along with it as she did not wish to be rude.

There was a shout from the foyer several minutes later. “Lady Bethel, we may have a lead!”

Kunigunde gathered Sybilla, Michael, and Eric and followed Bethel down the stairs to the small foyer where they had entered. A smaller old man was brought in by the same guard as the previous evening. He used an antler and wood cane on his right side. His eye was blackened.

“Master Aviv. It is great to see you.” Bethel greeted.

“It is great to see you as well, milady.” Aviv responded.

“Well, tell us exactly what happened.” Bethel said.

The old man started to speak but was interrupted by a coughing spell. “Get his something to drink.” Bethel said to one of the maids.

“I am sorry. Last night, there was a knock at my door. I thought it was my stable boy. I opened and I was struck before I could even say anything. It was a man, he looked very similar to you.” He said, pointing at Kunigunde.

“He was here last night!” Kunigunde wailed while covering her face. Bethel went next to Kunigunde and placed her hand on the Princess’s shoulder.

“There is no way you could have known, milady. Continue Master Aviv.” Bethel said.

“He grabbed one of the knives in my kitchen and demanded the that I give him my best horse. So, I lead him to my stable and gave him a saddle. He asked which direction Miryam lies. As he rode away he tossed away the knife he threatened me with. I’m terribly sorry I could not do something to stop him.” Aviv said.

“No. No. You did well Master Aviv!” Bethel said.

“Mister Aviv, is that same knife that you have on your belt?” Sibylla stepped forward and said.

Aviv nodded ‘yes’.

Sibylla stretched out her hand. “If I may, sir?”

Aviv’s hand shook, perhaps from old age or fright or both, as he carefully placed the knife in her hand. Sibylla sniffed the knife with great focus, as would a blacksmith examine the steel that he had just quenched.

“It is Conrad, milady. I am certain of it.” Sibylla said.

“Pray mercy,” Kunigunde said. She took a pause, “Miryam you say?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Aviv said.

“Then let us pray that he was foolish enough to actually go where mentioned,” Kunigunde said.

Kunigunde sent one of Fox Run’s pigeons to Miryam.

Fox Run, 9th of September, 1903rd year of the Flower.

Lord Miryam,

Perhaps you have heard rumors of the betrayal of Conrad Viapacis. If not, just know that Prince Conrad Viapacis is currently guilty, by my authority as the queen of Viapacis, for murder, heresy, and treason. I believe that he is on his way to Miryam. I do not know what he intends to do. However, he is murderous and extremely dangerous. We do not want him to know that we may know where he is going. Keep this secret, but tell your guards to arrest Conrad Viapacis on sight. Under my authority, you will not obey any order that he may attempt to give you. Do not increase patrols or order anything that could cause Conrad to be suspicious. I will arrive in two weeks with my party of 100 men.

Peace of the Precious Flora,

Kunigunde Viapacis IV, Queen of Viapacis