Discerning Relatives

Arianelle begins her secret plan.

4.

Discerning Relatives

 

Arianelle did not sleep much that night, for she spent the entire time going over her plan again and again, to make certain that there were no mistakes.

At dawn she joined her entire family for a private breakfast and it was one of the best family gatherings that she had experienced.    There was none of the Royal Court, no earls, barons and dukes, no ladies in waiting, jugglers, jesters or musicians.    In attendance were only King Eleazar and Queen Aurei, their children and grandchildren and their spouses, along with Sophia and Khord’s twin daughters, Katherine and Victoria and for once the Sylvan Princess felt happy and carefree.

But soon it ended and everyone went their separate ways.     Gamel and Valmiai would return to King’s Reach, while their son, Nolen, stayed on at Westmark to continue to train with his Grandfather as a Paladin.

Katherine and Victoria would remain in Westmark in the Royal Court as they continued to learn Sorcery.   

Princess Aidan, the youngest child of King Eleazar and Queen Aurei, would also remain at the Royal Court, where she was hotly pursued by the suitable young noble men.

Arianelle saw her parents off on the MAS Penny Golem, watching the airship take off for Tarmard with a surprisingly strong surge of emotions.     She felt the thrill of being free from her parent’s supervision, but at the same time, she found herself crying as she watched the airship disappear into the west.

Amala and Queen Aurei glanced at each other as they stood nearby watching the girl’s reaction.    Both were surprised, for Arianelle possessed an unusually mature frame of mind and seldom reacted in such an unsure manner.   Yet when they asked her, she laughed it off and claimed it was just foolish sentiment.

 

Late that afternoon Carn and Amala’s caravan left Westmark after a long farewell to the King and Queen and remaining family in the capital city.     Arianelle rode behind her uncle and aunt, silently marking the best time to implement the next part of her plan, yet not wanting to upset Carn and Amala.

She had too many loose ends to finish tying up to wait too long.

Yet her nerves kept her silent, until about three hours had passed.      As the caravan stopped in the village of Sutto for the night, she knew she had to act, in order to give her enough time to get back to Westmark before the night watch closed the gates.

Thankfully, her quietness had been noticed by her aunt, who asked her if everything was alright.    It was the opening she needed.

Pretending to fight back tears, she slowly shook her head.

Amala at once was concerned. “Sweetheart, what is it?   What’s wrong?”

“Aunt Amala… I… I think I’ve changed my mind,”   she said in her best ‘scared girl’ voice.

“Changed your mind about what?”   Amala asked, though she was already figuring it out.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Amala, but I don’t think I want to go with you and Uncle Carn.”

“What?   Why, child?”

“I… I don’t know,”  she lied convincingly, “When I saw my parents leave in the Penny Golem, I suddenly felt less sure of myself.”

“Why didn’t you say anything, sweetheart?   We’re three hours out of Westmark already and it will be dark in about an hour.”

“I know… I’m sorry.”   Arianelle now tried her trickiest part of her scheme.   She looked up, trying to convey that she had suddenly found enough courage to act independently. “Aunt Amala, I want to go back to Westmark tonight, on my own.”

“On your own?!   At night?”   her aunt responded predictably.

“I’ll be fine, the road is good and it’s just farmland from here to Westmark.”

“Arianelle, that would be quite foolish of me to allow.   Your parents would kill me if I let you go.”

“You told me that both you and mother rode long distances alone when you were my age.”

“Well, yes, that’s true, but there is really no need for you to head off tonight.     Wait until tomorrow morning and you can probably ride with someone from this village that has a reason for going there.”

“No, I don’t want to wait, Aunt Amala,”   she said flatly, taking her biggest risk now.    She knew her aunt would find her determination as very strange and would begin asking her very penetrating questions to find out why.   This was her most fragile part of the plan.  

Arianelle waited for the certain response, but to her surprise, Amala said nothing.   Unnerved, the girl glanced at her aunt, who had a smug smile on her lips.

“Why are you lying to me, Arianelle?”   she asked, her eyes piercing through her as if she could read her very thoughts.

She tried to answer, but stammered.   Amala chuckled softly and put her arm around her niece’s shoulder, leading her a short distance from the camp.

“Aunt Amala"“

“Shh, child, please don’t embarrass yourself by going deeper in your lie.    I’ve just been toying with you to see how deeply you’d lie and how well you could do it.   I know exactly what your plan is - all the details, such as the orders for the magic items to conceal your appearance that will be waiting for you when you’re back in Westmark.”

Arianelle was thunderstruck, for once not able to say anything, but could only stare in wide-eyed disbelief at her aunt.    Amala laughed at her petrified look.

“Child, I am a bard!    We are masters of spoken words and song.    When I saw your reaction this morning as your parents left on that airship, I knew something was wrong.   You didn’t seem your usual spunky self.     When you were quiet this afternoon as we began our journey, I consulted with Carn and he suggested that we find out.    Do you remember my humming a rather pleasant tune this afternoon?    It was actually a bard spell called ‘Discernment’ that can be cast upon anyone that a bard personally knows well.     It enabled me to ‘hear’ your thoughts as we rode along.”

“Oh no…”   Arianelle groaned, her whole scheme crumbling before her eyes.

“Oh yes, child!    You went over that plan again and again, since you were so apprehensive of it and unsure of yourself.”

“You’re going to tell my parents and King Eleazar, aren’t you?”

Amala smiled. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?!”  

“Nope; in fact, I think for the most part your reasons are logical.    Carn does too, for I shared it all with him.    In fact, I’m going to actually help you with your plans.”

“You are?!”   Arianelle stammered in amazement.

“Yes, but before we do that, I want to discuss it with you.   Don’t worry; this is not a Bard trick to dissuade you.    In fact, I don’t trust the Hutcaiah prince either.    Losing so many family members at one moment to the Hutcaiah has haunted me to this day.     You’re a lot like me, sweetheart.    We’re both headstrong, we both feel we need to protect our family, and we both are suspicious of strangers.”

“So do you think Prince Lee is scheming something against Grandpa and Grandma?”

“Child, I don’t know, and I have actually studied the prince closely, though he doesn’t know it.    Honestly, I would guess that he does not currently have some diabolical scheme to assassinate mother and father.    But I think he is certainly sending information back to his father and I don’t trust him either.      I know that my parents can certainly take care of themselves, but I remember quite well when I was about your age and I understand your nervousness.”

“So you see why I’m going through all of this?”   Arianelle asked, finding herself greatly relieved that someone else knew of her secret plans.

“It is sensible.    Clearly the prince is aloof and cocky.    He is charming, but very prejudiced toward women.    What you said to him yesterday was brilliant, Arianelle!    I’m quite sure he is still fuming about that.”

“That’s why I wanted to change my appearance, Aunt Amala.    If I come into the court as a poor elven girl who was accepted as a member of the Queen’s Guard, and appear to him as a short-haired, strong-willed tomboy, he will be so disgusted by me that he won’t think I’m spying on him.”

“I see your logic - he’d suspect that if we wanted to spy on him, we’d pick a very feminine acting lady that would cater to his vanity and try her best to get him to trust her.”

“Right -he’ll instinctively not like me in this role- which is more than fine by me- but he’ll not suspect that we’d have someone spy on him who so badly annoyed him.”

“Yes, but he certainly won’t confide in you of any nefarious plans that he has.”

“Yeah, but I doubt he’d confide in anyone that wasn’t Hutcaiah.    He’s too smart for that.    I’m just hoping that I can observe him closely without him knowing who I am.    If I merely stayed at the court as Princess Arianelle, he’d always have his charming mask on around me.”

“So you worked out an agreement with Captain Todd?”   Amala asked softly, so the others in the caravan who were unpacking their belongings for the night wouldn’t hear.

“Yes, he owed my father a favor and I… uh… hinted… that my parents were in on my plan.     So he agreed to say that I am an orphan Faesidhe girl who joined the Queen’s Guard when they opened it up to more than just orcs, last year.   I may be able to make Prince Lee think that I am one of the minorities of Faesidhe who still don’t like grandfather’s reign over them.     If I could get him to believe that, he might confide in me if he was plotting something against them.”

“Arianelle, you do know that this could be potentially dangerous, if he is in fact trying to find a way to harm or kill them.”

The Sylvan princess nodded. “I’ll be very careful.”

Amala did not seem completely convinced. “Sometimes carefulness has nothing to do with it.   It is best to be extremely paranoid in a situation like this.    How long will you continue the masquerade?”

“I’m going to try to keep it up until you and Carn return from your trip.     Surely a month will give me enough time to see what that Hutcaiah prince is actually doing here.”

Amala made a clicking sound with her tongue. “I am still nervous about you playing this part.    It is a courageous plan, but a very risky one.    If you don’t get killed, you could be humiliated if someone recognizes you.     Even with a different hair style and skin and eye coloring, you still may be recognized, especially by mother and father.    They might not like to hear that the Queen’s Bodyguards were in on the plan.”

“Only Captain Todd knows about it, and if I do have to reveal who I am, I will take full responsibility.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, sweetheart?   It’s not too late to back out.    You could still come along with Carn and me.”

Arianelle shook her head. “Thanks, Aunt Amala, but I really feel that I need to do this.   It may sound crazy, but it is almost like I’m supposed to do this.   Maybe I will stop an assassination attempt or something.    This could be my destiny.    At the very least, I will get a taste of life on my own.”

“I’m not sure being on your own at age 74 is an advisable method for growing up.     You’re starting out a bit young.    But I can see that you’ve already made up your mind.     So here is what I’m going to do to help you.”    Amala walked over to her saddlebags, which she had unloaded from her horse earlier.   Pulling open a flap, she rummaged around a bit, and then finally pulled out several items.

She held a lead box out to the girl. “Arianelle, you know of your grandfather’s use of drow silence and darkness stones, don’t you?   Well, this is a pair of both of them, shielded by the lead to keep them from activating.     They can get you out of trouble if you use them correctly.”

“Thanks, Aunt Amala, I always thought the stories they told about using these stones was fascinating.     I’ll take good care of them.”

Amala held out a pair of gauntlets. “These are enchanted; I am wearing an identical pair right now.    They give you the strength of an ogre when you wear them.     I’ll let you have my spare set.”

Arianelle took them from her aunt with almost an air of reverence. “Gauntlets of Ogre Strength; I’ve heard many tales of how wonderful of a magic item they are.    My mother has a pair as well.   I’ve always wanted to try them on, but she wouldn’t let me.   Now I’ll finally get a chance to wear them.”

“Just be careful with them, for your strength will be far greater than it is now, and you won’t need much force to rip a door off its hinges if you aren’t careful, when you enter a building.”

“I’ll remember,”   Arianelle promised.

Amala pulled out a purple cloth, unfolding it to reveal a silver broach.   

“This is a broach of invisibility, but it has charges that are spent each time it is used.   It only has one charge left, and when that charge is used, it will crumble to dust.      Use it only in time of a dire emergency, as once it is gone, it cannot be recharged.”

“Thank you, I’ll only use it if I absolutely have to.”

 

“Now for the most precious gift.”   Amala held out a rather fancy long sword in a scabbard. “This was my first enchanted blade.     It will never dull, tarnish or break.   I use better blades now, so keep this sword and pass it down one day to your child.”

Arianelle snorted. “That may never happen, but I’ll keep it in our family.   I am very honored to receive it; I will honor it in return.”

“That is all I could ask you to do.   As long as you keep it in our family, I have no regrets allowing you to pass it on.”   She consented to that idea, knowing that the girl’s opinion on motherhood would very likely change drastically when she was fully grown.   “Now, I will tell those in the Caravan that you grew homesick and I had you escorted back to Westmark.     I’ll keep your secret until we return.      If you are in need, here is the key to our suite in the Palace.    Feel free to use anything there, but I’d advise you not to let anyone see you entering it.”

“Thank you, Aunt Amala.    I must confess, I thought you’d be firmly against my idea.”

“For the most part, I am for it, sweetheart.   Honestly, I think you are too young to be trying it yourself.    But I was wild and independent when I was your age and there could be some danger to Mom and Dad which they don’t - or won’t-  see, due to their determination to maintain peace between the Hutcaiah Empire and their kingdom.   So maybe a ‘crazy’ idea would just be the thing that the Hutcaiah won’t see.    Make sure you are always wearing your autocaster and that it is fully charged.”

Arianelle nodded, mentally checking that she had remembered to have the ring recharged before leaving Tarmard.

Amala leaned over and hugged her niece. “You are a brave young woman, Arianelle.   If I could teleport you back to Westmark, I’d send you that way, but of course I can’t, so I will just suggest that you quickly start back, so you won’t have so far to ride after dark.”

 

After saying their goodbyes, Arianelle thanked her aunt and then rode off on her horse, heading west.

Amala watched her ride off into the sunset.     Carn came and joined her. “So she’s going through with it?”

“Yeah, I’m afraid she is.     I gave her some help.”    She told her husband about the magic items she gave her.

“I heard you say that you wouldn’t tell anyone about her secret.   So are you going to keep her secret or contact your mom to let her in on the ruse?”

Amala arched her eyebrows, “I’m not a Paladin, so I’m not bound to tell the truth at all times.   I’m going to do what any loving aunt would do, Carn.”

The bard smiled. “I’ll go unpack your crystal ball.”