The Princess Fugitive: A Reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood (The Four Kingdoms Book 2)

by Melanie Cellier

  He was still thinking when Mathilde began writing and he couldn’t suppress a gleam of unease as he watched her moving hand. After another minute, he also began to write.

  Ava forced herself to sit still but it felt like torture and she was starting to sweat beneath her dress. Several times she concluded that five minutes must have passed but each time she looked at Gumarich, he remained frozen in place, eyes fixed on the pocket watch.

  Finally the time did pass and Mathilde and Konrad were instructed to cease writing. Ava let out a sigh of relief and waited impatiently for the trial to progress.

  “As the current front runner, I will ask you to read out your answer first, Prince Konrad,” Gumarich said.

  Konrad cleared his throat uncomfortably and read out what he had written.

  Apparently his response to plague reports would be to send doctors and nurses to the homes of the sick and to provide medicine and food from the palace stores to assist the families involved.

  Ava almost snorted at the unlikely scenario he presented. She noted she wasn’t the only sceptical one. There were raised eyebrows and amused looks all over the room.

  Konrad noticed them too and his eyes narrowed. Most people immediately resumed serious expressions, apparently not confident enough in Ava’s victory to risk annoying Konrad.

  “I see,” said Gumarich, his voice giving no indication of what he thought of this answer. He consulted the paper in his hand. Ava wondered how long he had spent coming up with every possible response and developing a scenario to fit it. He must have done a lot of study on the subject.

  “This response is successful,” he read and Konrad began to smile, “for a time.” Konrad’s grin fell away.

  “Soon new cases of plague are reported and there are not enough doctors and nurses to attend them all. On top of this, the other inhabitants of the city have begun to complain that the hospitals are under staffed. What is your response?”

  “Well,” said Konrad slowly, clearly stalling for time. “In that case, I would have those who were ill taken to the hospitals so they could be treated in one place. This would also allow the doctors and nurses to attend the other patients as well as the plague patients.”

  Ava shook her head. He was so far out of his depth, he had lost his head.

  Gumarich once again consulted his sheaf of papers.

  “All of the sick are moved to the various hospitals throughout Rangmeros,” he read. “For a short time, this allows the doctors and nurses to successfully care for them all. However, soon the numbers of the sick grow. Within days, all of the hospitals are full to capacity and some of the doctors and nurses also become sick. There is now no hope of keeping up with the new cases. The death toll rises and the travelling merchants issue a merchant ban on Rangmere. Soon the other kingdoms follow suit with a general travel ban. Those citizens of Rangmeros who have not succumbed to the illness flee the city in terror. Some of them are, unknowingly, already carrying the plague and they spread it to the other towns across Rangmere. Within the space of two months, both the population and economy of Rangmere are decimated.”

  He delivered the results of the scenario in the same flat tone he had used to announce the trial.

  It was a devastating situation that he outlined so Ava kept her expression serious but inside she was smiling. Konrad hadn’t even lasted five minutes before he had destroyed the kingdom. No doubt he was now cursing the entire trial in his head and resolving never to respond to any situation with compassion again. As if he even knew what the word meant.

  Gumarich turned to Mathilde.

  “Please read out your initial answer.”

  Mathilde cleared her throat and read in a loud voice.

  “In the case of serious contagious illness, the wellbeing of the whole population must be considered while also taking into account the rights of the ill. At first report of plague symptoms, I would order large quarantine tents to be set up in the fields immediately surrounding the city. Twenty percent of the nurses and doctors from each city hospital would be sent to care for the sick in these tents. Anyone displaying symptoms would be transported to the tents in a covered wagon. Their house would then be marked with a yellow flag and a guard would be stationed outside it to enforce a one-week home quarantine on the non-symptomatic members of the household. If any of them began to show symptoms, they would be immediately transferred to the tents.

  “Those under home quarantine would be offered the option of accompanying their sick family members to the quarantine tents where they would serve as basic nurses and orderlies, fetching water and supplies and generally assisting the medical professionals. Anyone who recovered from the plague, and any healthy assistant who desired to leave the tents, would be required to pass a week in a separate quarantine tent to ensure they would not carry the plague back into the city.”

  Ava was impressed. It was a far more comprehensive response than she would have come up with, although she didn’t think it would take much to beat Konrad. But the trials weren’t solely about winning – Mathilde was making her look good which was also important. She could hear the approving murmurs running through the crowd.

  “Quarantine tents are established outside the city but they soon require more supplies than the hospitals have available,” Gumarich read. “What is your response?”

  “The castle servants would be instructed to conduct a stock take of the castle supplies and determine what provisions would be needed to supply the castle itself for one month. Anything excess to this would be sent to the tents. Messengers bearing certificates of health would also be sent to the surrounding towns and kingdoms to purchase supplies.”

  “With what gold are these supplies purchased?” asked Gumarich and for once he wasn’t reading off his paper but was instead regarding Mathilde curiously.

  “In order to support the sick, a voluntary contribution would be requested from the citizens of Rangmeros,” said Mathilde after a moment’s thought. “If this did not raise enough gold, a tax would be levied against all citizens. Everyone benefits from plague quarantine.”

  “Congratulations,” said Gumarich after once again consulting his paper. “The plague is contained and Rangmeros returns to normal functionality with only one hundred deaths to mourn.”

  He turned to the other judges.

  “I do not believe a consultation is necessary,” he said. “The scores are definitive. Princess Ava’s champion is the victor.”

  Ava allowed herself a small smile which was mirrored across the room.

  “But she locked the sick and their families away,” said Konrad in disgust. “How does that demonstrate compassion?”

  “As a ruler,” said Gumarich, looking down his nose at the seated prince, “it is your responsibility to show compassion to all members of your kingdom and your job to know how best that can be done. Preventing the spread of plague, and in a way that allows for sufficient care of the sick, is the only valid compassionate response to such a situation. In fact, I want to congratulate the representative from Arcadia for such a thorough and exemplary response. She would be welcome in the hospitals of Rangmere at any time.”

  Mathilde flushed with pleasure and turned to beam at Ava but her eyes quickly passed over her and stopped in the doorway behind the judge’s table. Following her gaze, Ava saw Evelyn standing there, her hands still stained with Hans’ blood.

  Chapter 30

  Forgetting all about the trial and Mathilde’s victory, Ava leapt to her feet and ran to Evelyn’s side. Mathilde was only steps behind her.

  “Is he…” she couldn’t get the final word out but let her eyes ask the question.

  “We think he’ll live,” said Evelyn. “It was touch and go for a while but Clarisse’s information was invaluable and Aldric has finally managed to stop the bleeding. He’s awake too and asking after you.”

  Without a backward glance, Ava took off through the foyer and burst into the room where the others were waiting. The table had been pushed back agai
nst the wall and someone had found several cushions which they’d laid out on the ground to make a more comfortable bed for Hans. There was blood everywhere but everyone was smiling, even Hans, who was propped up slightly by even more cushions. He had a large bandage wrapped around his shoulder and Ava was relieved to see that there was no blood seeping through it.

  She rushed over to him and sank onto her knees.

  Slowly he raised one hand and cupped her cheek.

  “How did you go?” His words were slow and laboured.

  She smiled through tears and placed her own hand over his. “We won, of course,” she said and he grinned back at her in response.

  “Of course, you did. I don’t know why I even bothered to ask.”

  “Oh Hans!” It came out more like a wail than she had intended. “I’m so sorry!”

  “What for? Nothing has happened that I wouldn’t do over again.” His face darkened. “Although if I can get my hands on that cheating brother of yours, that’ll be the end of him and you’ll have no need to conduct a trial for treason after all.”

  Ava shook her head at him.

  “You’ll do no such thing or someone will be trying you next,” she said. “Once I’ve won, there will be plenty of time to see that Konrad gets justice.”

  Hans seemed to be satisfied with this and Aldric interjected to say that he needed to rest. Hans smiled at Ava ruefully.

  “Doctor’s orders,” she said with her own smile and helped him resettle himself on the pillows.

  “So what happened?” asked Sarah. “And don’t just say you won! I want details.”

  Ava was so relieved to see Hans alive that she took great joy in narrating the entire trial with particular attention on Konrad’s ineptitude. The others were all greatly impressed and showered praises on Mathilde who blushed and disclaimed.

  “I was rather relieved when he announced the subject of the trial. Plague training is covered in the first year of nurse training. I kept imagining all these topics he could have brought up that I know nothing about. I think I got lucky more than anything else!”

  By the time everyone was finished assuring her that luck had nothing to do with it, the clerk had returned to announce the third trial.

  Ava had been so absorbed with Hans’ recovery that she had almost forgotten the next trial was her own.

  “Let’s hope it goes as well for me,” she said.

  Aldric and Clarisse announced that they would stay with Hans but the rest of the group wanted to come with Ava. As she passed through the doorway she glanced back and met Hans’ eyes from across the room. He reached up and tapped his fist to his heart and she felt a burst of courage. She could do this.

  The table and chairs had been removed from the makeshift arena and had been replaced by two podiums that faced the judge’s table. Fastred stood in front of them with his own sheaf of papers.

  Ava didn’t even have time to sit down before he called for the competitors to take their places behind the podiums. There was yet another rustle through the crowd when Ava herself stepped down onto the floor.

  She could feel the rush of energy that came from being the focus of so much attention and she was glad for it. She would channel it into her performance in the trial.

  “A good monarch is a well-informed monarch,” announced Fastred once they were both in place. “To demonstrate the virtue of intelligence, you will undergo a test of your general knowledge. If you look in front of you, you will see that you each have a gavel. I will ask a question and if you know the answer, strike the podium in front of you with the gavel. You will then be given the opportunity to answer. If you are wrong, you will be instantly disqualified.”

  Wow, thought Ava, he’s tough.

  “If either competitor is the first to strike their gavel and then give the correct answer three times in a row, they will be declared the victor.”

  So once again, rumour had been correct. This trial would be a straight out test of knowledge. Ava gulped. For all the training she had received from her father, Konrad, as the heir apparent, had received still more. She picked up the gavel and felt its reassuring weight in her hand.

  Using the techniques she had learned as a child, she pushed everything out of her mind except for this moment. When the first question came, she was ready.

  The questions didn’t follow a logical progression but instead jumped about between multiple topics, covering history, international relations, commerce, trade and law. Sometimes the two gavels came down so quickly that Fastred had to call on the other judges for a ruling on which one had sounded first. Several times Ava managed to get two questions in a row but every time she did, Konrad gained a fevered brilliance that ensured his gavel was the next to sound.

  After forty minutes, the truly amazing thing was that there hadn’t been a single question neither of them could answer. They seemed evenly matched and Ava couldn’t help but feel it was their father who was truly being tested in this trial. For all his faults, in this area he had excelled. He had produced two children with all the knowledge required to rule a kingdom.

  But it had been an emotionally taxing few hours and with the focus on Hans’ injury, Ava hadn’t eaten anything since her breakfast before dawn. She could feel herself starting to fade and the answers took a second or two longer to appear in her slightly sluggish mind. It was infuriating but the harder she tried to think, the longer they seemed to take.

  When Konrad got a particularly difficult question right, he threw her a triumphant smile. Seeing the expression infuriated her. It was a special one he reserved for her and he had often flashed it at her behind their father’s back when he had scored some imaginary point. All the injustices, not only of the last two months but of her entire life, came flooding back and when Fastred asked the next question she didn’t even hear it.

  Konrad’s gavel came hammering down and his response was quick and sure. Two correct answers in a row.

  She gripped her gavel tightly in her fist. She couldn’t let Konrad get the next question, she just couldn’t. This was the first trial where Ava herself was competing and she had to show everyone, especially her brother, that she could beat him. She stared at Fastred as he consulted the paper in front of him.

  Time seemed to slow down as he looked back up and Ava held her breath, her hand poised, ready.

  “In what year did King Christoph amend the treaty between Rangmere and the merchant council and what was the amendment?”

  Ava could recite the entire treaty, including the amendment, but when she tried to remember the year her mind froze. Had it been seventy-three years ago or seventy-four?

  Konrad’s gavel hadn’t sounded yet so Ava tried to prod her mind into action. It had been after the great drought but before the riots…seventy-four!

  Even as her mind formulated the number, her hand flashed down. But the bang of her gavel wasn’t the only sound ringing through the room. Konrad had also moved and the noises had been so simultaneous, Ava had no idea who had been first.

  She looked at the panel of judges and willed them to rule in her favour. She was completely sure of her answer now; the amendment had been made seventy-four years ago.

  “Judges,” said Fastred, “please give your ruling.”

  The other judges leaned towards each other and murmured quietly. Ava couldn’t hear any of the words. The two gavels had fallen in almost perfect timing. Surely they would find in her favour. She knew she shouldn’t hope for preferential treatment but she couldn’t help it. She pinned her gaze on them and hoped they felt the weight of their decision. The future of their kingdom could be resting in their hands. Surely they didn’t want Konrad to rule them.

  At last they all leaned back into their seats.

  “Although, in this instance it was extremely difficult to determine the order in which the gavels struck,” said Leuthar, “we find in favour of Prince Konrad.”

  Ava stared at him in disbelief. She didn’t even listen as Konrad gave the perfect answer she kne
w he would deliver.

  The trial was over. Ava had lost.

  A wave of fury rose up but instantly subsided into icy numbness. Ava had to remind herself that she wasn’t that person anymore. She didn’t need to bury her emotions. She would confront them and she would use them to defeat her brother. There were two more trials to go. She still had a chance to win.

  The crowd had responded to her loss with a heavy silence and she felt many concerned gazes following her from the room. It was a relief to escape into the back foyer.

  The result must have been evident in her expression because neither Aldric nor Clarisse asked her the outcome of the trial. Hans was unconscious again but Aldric informed her that he was merely sleeping and that it was the best thing in the circumstances.

  Ava had no wish to relive her failure so she instead fixed her attention on her sister-in-law. Clarisse’s beautiful golden gown was stained with red and her hair had fallen from its immaculate arrangement but she looked more peaceful than she had in the courtroom.

  “I haven’t thanked you,” Ava said, “for bringing us the news that saved Hans. I tried to visit you when I got back to the capital but you were too unwell to receive me.”

  “Quite the contrary,” said Clarisse. “I’ve been in perfect health for months.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Ava politely, although actually she didn’t see at all.

  The other princess chuckled darkly.

  “I have not been ill or frightened or injured or any of the other things rumoured about me since the attack. I have been a prisoner.”

  “What?” For some reason this option had never occurred to Ava.

  “I always expected to make a political marriage,” said Clarisse, somewhat obscurely. “I have many siblings and they had no other use for me in Lanover. My sisters thought me fortunate, to be marrying a prince who would one day be king. But I hardly need to tell you that Konrad is a cruel man.”