I couldn’t make any sense of it. The report was too unbelievable to be true. The new crux of my plan simply wandered into town one day and was promptly arrested. This worked out perfectly for me, so I had her thrown into the worst cell available and made sure the food and water were horrible. The idea was to leave her there for a month or so, then come down to rescue her personally. From there, I’d pretend I’d had no idea she was being held there, and she would be so grateful I’d rescued her that she’d do anything I wanted. Unfortunately, that plan apparently wasn’t foolproof. One drunk guard ruined the whole thing. According to his testimony, the prisoner simply vanished, right before his eyes.
Who in their right mind would believe such a tale? Especially from a drunkard.
Of course, I had him executed as soon as I heard the news. The kingdom would be all the better off with one less idiot. I was certain he had absolutely no idea what a valuable commodity that girl was, but that was no excuse. Nobody else on duty that night was able to explain how she’d escaped. I thought about having the rest of them executed as well, but that would have left us short of staff, so I showed them my merciful side.
My original plan had been to send out a subjugation force to capture her, and now that she’d been imprisoned once, she certainly wouldn’t just conveniently wander into town a second time. So I started organizing the mission to raid the forest and recover this “queen.” I absolutely couldn’t afford to fail this time, so I devoted a full eighty percent of my soldiers to the effort. Only the bare minimum were left behind to defend the domain, but that was hardly an issue—we were situated in the middle of nowhere. Not even bandits had any incentive to attack this place. In a way, no place in the kingdom was safer.
I sent for the leader of the mercenary group I’d hired last time, Hegram. I wanted to commission his group of mercenaries for this operation, since they had a significant amount of experience with the Grimwood. More importantly, they’d been to the tower where this “queen” lived once before. Thankfully, the man in question was still in town.
“You summoned me, Your Grace?”
✦ ✦ ✦
He really must have had some formal training somewhere. He was quickly becoming my favorite mercenary to deal with.
“Yes, there’s been a bit of a problem regarding that little girl you told me about, Miss Grimwood,” I told him. “Apparently she wandered into town and was arrested.”
“What? That’s awful!” He seemed genuinely appalled.
“Yes, quite. Unfortunately, it gets worse. You see, that happened over two weeks ago, but I wasn’t told about it until she apparently escaped.”
“She escaped, then? I might have known. She’s truly mysterious, that one.”
“Yes, quite. More importantly, I can’t let this blemish on my reputation stand. I want you and your men to lead my soldiers into the Grimwood, and meet with her on my behalf. Ultimately, I’d like her to return here so I can apologize in person. I’d go myself, but I can’t leave the town while it’s so lightly defended. I intend to deploy eighty percent of my soldiers for this task. With such a fighting force, even the most dangerous creatures of the forest should keep their distance.”
“I’d be happy to assist you in this endeavor,” Hegram said. “Shall we discuss the terms?”
“But of course.”
Since this wasn’t the first job I’d given his group, it was easy to hash out the details. Once we agreed upon the terms, I sent him off with a smile. He seemed like the upstanding sort, so I played to that. After all, it seemed like he and his band were on somewhat decent terms with that wretched girl. Just as planned, it seemed he never thought I had anything but the purest of noble intentions.
If he could just lure her back here, I’d handle the rest. I’d put a collar around her neck and keep her as a pet. Maybe I’d even teach her to bark when I called her. It’d serve her right for all the trouble she’d caused me.
Just you wait little Miss Grimwood, I’ll have you on your knees before me within the next month. Then we’ll see who really rules the Grimwood region.