A rank stench met my nose as I descended the stairs. The odor was so foul I covered my nose with a handkerchief in an attempt to block it. I was on my way to the deepest parts of the castle dungeon, to meet with a prisoner there. Well, not just to meet—to liberate. Duke Finlaud had rotted in this hole long enough.
He’d been down here for weeks; nearly two seasons. Meanwhile, the little wench responsible was here in the palace, and much of the security detail was busy with the forces she’d brought along. They weren’t fighting, but they still needed to be watched. This gave me an excellent opportunity to add plenty of my own troops to the detail. With enough men inside of the castle, I could finally liberate the duke, and together, we would place him on the throne. Then those fools who opposed him would be hanged, and I would become a count, or perhaps even a marquis. After that, our new king would dispose of that wretched little monster from the Grimwood.
In preparation for this day, I had spent hours poring over old texts in the archives. After weeks of research, I finally found what I was looking for: a tome detailing the history of the treasured sword of the royal family. In times long past, strange creatures from another world had appeared. For a time, they had lived peacefully alongside the people of this world. They supposedly had brought many new possibilities with them, but they had also tried to impose their values on the rest of the world. In the end, thirteen great weapons were forged from a special metal from their world. These weapons were the only things that could kill the invaders.
After a war that spanned centuries, the last of their kind was finally snuffed out. Apparently, in the last years of that war, the lands were divided by the great oceans, as well as the Grimwood and other places like it—a sort of spiteful way to divide the races of man and ensure they could no longer work together cohesively.
Fortunately, the interlopers were defeated in the end, but now it seemed as though they weren’t really all gone after all. This obnoxious brat who had shown up in the Grimwood had to be some sort of remnant from those times. Perhaps she had been sealed away, or maybe she hatched from an egg after being dormant for centuries... However exactly it was she’d survived, the royal family still held one of the thirteen weapons—which meant Duke Finlaud could take up the royal family’s treasure and kill that little wench once and for all.
Armed with this knowledge, and accompanied by my most trusted men, I paid a “visit” to the duke. He looked to be in an absolutely detestable state, but he still held on to his pride.
“Your Grace, it is I, Baron Sedestin.”
“What news, good baron?” he replied. His mental faculties were as sharp as ever.
“That little wretch from the Grimwood is inside the castle at this very moment,” I told him. “I’ve researched the old tomes, and I think I have a way to finally be rid of her. The sword passed down in the royal family is one of the very same thirteen weapons that destroyed those like her in ancient times. All you need to do is take up that blade, and you’ll be able to slay her without any difficulty.”
“Truly? Then I can finally have my revenge! When can you have me out?”
“This very moment. I have my best men with me, ready to put you on the throne.”
“Make it so,” he ordered.
“At once, Your Grace.”
With a swift hand gesture, I signaled my men to begin the attack. They took out the dungeon guards in no time. Once the guards were relieved of their keys, Duke Finlaud was free, just like that.
“How many men do you have within the palace?” he asked.
“Only about a hundred or so, brought in under the pretense of reinforcing the palace guard for the little monster’s visit. I had to keep the number small to avoid suspicion. The palace has eyes and ears everywhere, but fear not; I have some loyal men stationed outside the walls. When they receive a certain signal, they’ll send word to all of our allies. I couldn’t communicate to them ahead of time without risking the palace’s shadows getting wind of it. We must act now or never. I’ll see you on the throne before the day is out.”
“Sedestin, you’ve truly outdone yourself. I’ll see to it that you’re rewarded.”
“You’re too kind, Your Grace. I look forward to the moment I can call you my king.”
Things progressed rapidly from there. I took the opportunity to present the duke with a fresh set of clothes, and he took the opportunity to shave off the unsightly facial hair he’d grown during his stay. Once he was changed, we left the dungeon, accompanied by my men. It was regrettable that we couldn’t spare the time for his grace to have a proper bath, but there would be ample opportunity for that later. We took the most direct route to the treasury, silencing the palace’s guards as we went. The fewer we left alive, the fewer we’d have to contend with later.
Once we gained access to the treasury, the duke was able to retrieve the royal family’s treasured sword. It was a unique weapon; the metal was nearly the same color as a clear sky, and intricate designs were carved into both the hilt and the blade. There was no doubt about it. This was the genuine article.
Our next objective was to rendezvous with the rest of my men inside of the palace. From there, we’d signal the troops outside of the palace, who would alert our allies. The plan was well underway.
Most of my men were in the courtyard, assigned to guard the entourage that little wretch had brought with her. I silently signaled them all to abandon their posts, and they formed ranks behind me. One of the little monsters from the Grimwood asked what was going on, but I took care of it.
“We’re only going to make the rounds,” I told the vile creature. “I trust you won’t cause any trouble while we’re away.”
That was all it took. The little trolls were probably too concerned with how their actions would reflect on their obnoxious ruler to do anything. As we made our way to the throne room, any small pockets of resistance we encountered were eliminated right away. Unfortunately, however, when we arrived, the throne room was nearly deserted. We captured the guards stationed there alive, in order to interrogate them. This was the worst-case scenario. The king should have been in the middle of an audience with that little wretch. If they weren’t here, then they must have—
“Of course! They must have retreated to a conference room to negotiate with her,” His Grace deduced. As expected of Duke Finlaud; he’d figured it out just as I did.
Unfortunately that did little to narrow down where exactly the king could be. There were a great many conference rooms in the palace, of different shapes and sizes. The layout of the palace was designed to confuse invaders, so not even a frequent visitor like myself knew every one of those rooms. Searching blindly would only cost us time. We needed to interrogate the guards here. No matter what sorts of cruel torture we had to subject them to, the time spent would be far less than searching ourselves.
How unfortunate that the current king chose to treat that little pest as an equal, and negotiate with her. He could have just taken up the treasured sword himself and killed her personally. Instead, the task fell to his brother.
“We must hurry and interrogate the guards here,” I said. “We’ve no time to be gentle. If we’re too rough with the first few, it’ll lower the morale of the rest. Start with the older guards first.” My orders, like the torture itself, were cruel yet necessary.
With that, my men set to work. They broke bones and twisted limbs. We didn’t have any of the crueler implements at hand, but we didn’t need them. I had my troops begin with the older, more obstinate troops. They maimed them, or just killed them outright when they refused to talk. When they finally started interrogating the younger guards, the ones with a lot to live for, it didn’t take long to secure the information we needed. Of course, once we had that information, we couldn’t just leave all of those hale and hearty young men there to oppose us later. What happened next was obvious.
“Kill them.”
Duke Finlaud himself gave the order. He knew just as well as I did what must be done. The young men cried and wailed as they were slaughtered. Spineless louts, the lot of them. They’d betrayed their king, and their country. They deserved to die.
“I must apologize for making such a frightful mess of the throne room,” I said.
“It’s no matter,” the duke replied icily. “We both know it had to be done. There was no reason to let such disgraceful louts live.” No surprise there. Duke Finlaud was the man I’d chosen to follow, after all.
We made our way to the conference room the younger guards had indicated. We ran into a few more small groups of guards here and there, but ultimately, we made it there without much trouble. As we drew closer to the door, looks of concern flashed across the faces of the men guarding it. There were quite a few of them—this was definitely the place. There wouldn’t have been this much security unless there was someone truly important in the room behind them. There were probably a few more stationed inside the room as well.