Traitor to the King

by Clare SM Keating

  Anyone who knew of the safety measure would understand the situation was not as upsetting as it would appear, but for much of Virenheim things could get intensely dangerous. The Karayan grasped Sheran’s shoulder gently and ushered him towards the palace, the pair would need to discuss what to do with the king, so they could use this opportunity wisely. However, as Yeruell watched them his mind began to click into place and he realised that something else had occurred. Before he could allow them to leave he rushed to the Karayan’s side and grasped Sheran at the wrist, his eyes fixated on the masked figure.

  “Tell me what’s happened… if I don’t know the king doesn’t know.” He stated as he trembled gently in fear. He had been foolish earlier to have drunk so much and acted so inappropriately, even more so for passing out in the palace in prayer. Though he was still working the nectar through his system, duty was at the forefront of his mind. His duty alone was what permitted the Karayan to state all he knew, although he would have rather crushed Yeruell’s skull had Sheran not been present.

  “About two hours ago, the body of Kirlia Kelvis was found in the Shortcut to the Bridges. The guards on duty witnessed a shadowed figure kill her with a scythe blade on a chain before they too were attacked, and the assailant came here. Lady Molwesa Ahygah-Benaga stated the body had been dead at least an hour before we were alerted. The initial suspect, from weapon description alone is Lord Anouk Benaga and she was taken by Floryas for questioning.” The Karayan stated with a soft growl and a firm set in his jaw that was audible, but as he thought about it, Yeruell had left the party within that time and about the time Kirlia had been killed the Karayan had confronted Jarl. That was at least a good twenty minutes after Anouk had left his side so Yeruell was just as likely a suspect. The thought flashed in the Karayan’s mind and he knew he could probably trick Yeruell into making himself a new suspect. “You were passing through this way close to that time Lord Yeruell; did you see anyone suspicious or Anouk walking to the bridges? Do you remember the guardsmen being there at all?”

  “No, they were walking from the courtyard to the bridge when I passed them. I got into the room for repentance on the bottom floor and passed out there. One of the internal guards had to undo the door for me to get in because I was having trouble. Even he seemed to be poorly coordinated.” Yeruell stated, rubbing his eyes and face in confusion as he tried to remember. The Karayan growled softly in irritation, it would seem Yeruell had been knocked out along with the Core and therefore could not have been near Kirlia. However, the times would have been very close, Anouk had probably gone through the shortcut about the same time Kirlia had entered the corridor of statues. That would mean about ten minutes after Anouk would have reached the waterfall pathway on her way home, Kirlia had been in the tunnel.

  But that did not seem right at all to the Karayan; Anouk had not yet been seen by the guards because they would not have got to the bridges by the time she’d been there. Plus, she had been moving with lightning speed the moment the Karayan had followed her with his eyes passing the statues in tears from that high platform. At that speed Anouk would have already been home by the time Kirlia had reached the bridges, she could not have walked back in time to kill Kirlia, go to the palace and then be back in time for her to be caught meditating in her room! Damara and Karani had walked off by that time too – Kirlia should have been seen by them along with the prone guards but both had reached the waterfall by the time the body was discovered!

  All the timings were wrong!

  The Karayan’s head was spinning in circles over the matter, nothing made sense and gently he patted at Sheran’s shoulder once more. Calmly he whispered a few questions about magic concealment and who could use it and Sheran’s eyes widened in excitement. Dutifully and tapping along his arms to count, he listed a whole series of possible spells and their genetic links whilst assuring the Karayan that the Benaga household were useless in using this kind of magic… but there were some lords who knew how to use invisibility. This gave another concern to the Karayan as he thought hard over the timeline; someone could have hidden the bodies and put the same sleeping spell on people at the same time… but they would have to be seriously powerful to do something like that or working with someone else!

  Worst of all the timescale was based solely on Molwesa’s thoughts… she could not perform a more accurate test of the body at all! Kirlia might have been killed much earlier, probably just after Anouk had passed through… but that still made Anouk the prime suspect. She was the only suspect, the only person with a suitable motive to kill Kirlia, but she could not have done any of the necessary magic upon her own!

  With time diluted by the lack of sunlight the Karayan wondered too just how much had indeed gone by before he’d seen Damara and Jarl together and whether anyone had seen Anouk….

  Six hours had gone by and Floryas sat at his great black stone desk staring at Anouk’s report of the events. He was aware that her account of time was truthful but that something was very wrong with his own. He calculated that it had taken Anouk half an hour running in upset to get home, she had only seen Yeruell walking ahead of her and held back a little to avoid his sluggish stammers, but she had not seen any of the guards. Yes, she had used the shortcut, but she had admitted to being too upset from Yeruell’s actions and her talk with the Karayan about saving her life to notice anyone. When she had reached home she had spent about ten minutes at the graves and at least an hour on the surface before she’d gone to the master bedroom. She’d heard Karani and Damara come in about half an hour before Floryas had arrived. That meant Damara and Karani should have passed a corpse and the fallen guards, they should have sounded the alarm. Anouk would have, if time correlated to Anouk’s words, been at the graves when Kirlia had been killed, which did not work out unless Anouk was lying. By her account Kirlia would have been killed at least an hour earlier then Molwesa assumed, it could have been correct for the guards if they had been passed out an hour and not realised it… but Molwesa was not usually wrong in such things. Plus, there was no one to cooperate with Anouk’s story….

  Floryas did not believe Anouk would have killed Kirlia, she was too dutiful to do such a thing… but she was the only suspect.

  Without realising it, Floryas had pulled himself from his stone desk and was pacing in gentle circles about the room, constantly tipping back and forth from his paperwork to the magic impression of the weapon. He looked at the intricate manner of the item and the curious decorative manner of the top of the blade with a grimace of frustration and depression. There was no mistaking that this was Anouk’s blade, but when her weapon had been taken there was not a drop of blood upon it. He’d even sniffed it and checked the links of chain where blood would not be easy to clean, but there had been nothing! He knew Anouk was smart when it came to the care and maintenance of her weapon, but just what was going on?

  Now there was a missing stone to think about and though Floryas agreed that the times did not match, he could not deny the possibility of an accomplice….

  The door knocked and Floryas jumped slightly at the sound, taking a few minutes to decide whether he wanted to go and settle at his desk again or just open the door. When he heard the gentle cough of Lord Yeruell he was swift to open the door and usher the figure in, who was looking frightfully pale and wrong. If it were not for the testimony of the Core member gathered by Lord Karayan, then Yeruell could have been a suspect as well but it was thankfully not the case. The last thing Floryas could envision apart from a traitorous Benaga was a traitorous Yeruell. With his mind spinning in frustration he welcomed the arrival of the gentleman when he knew that Yeruell would bring the advice of the king himself and some kind of idea of what could have happened.

  His hopes were shattered however as Yeruell simply looked pathetic and sad over the whole event.

  “Have you made any kind of progress Lord Floryas? We’ve had the Benaga Household searched to be sure and sent Damara into tears when they trashed Barbanos’ room. If Anouk ha
d not murdered Kirlia before then she would have slaughtered everyone that had dared to touch the journal of that room. The king is beside himself with upset and confusion, he doesn’t know whether the death of Kirlia is a distraction orchestrated by Anouk or just poorly timed… but he doesn’t doubt the evidence of the weapon….” Yeruell whimpered, sitting at Floryas’ chair and dropping his head into his hands. It was unusual and unwelcome for a male to cry for any reason but within Floryas’ office there had been many crying figures over the years and seeing another cry over the matter alleviated his own concerns.

  Feeling obligated to tell the truth and to comfort the poor young boy that he had so often pitied for the torturous jokes made of him; Floryas patted Yeruell’s hands and shook his head gently in frustration. He had been informed already by Lord Zehna that normal protocol was unnecessary due to the loss of a stone and as Yeruell sat here, Anouk was already being tortured by Skabrat. He did not want to say anything about it to Yeruell, knowing the affection the figure held and how painful it would be, but there was no way of pussyfooting around the issue when the matter of the stone was so serious.

  “Nothing feels right… but evidence-wise we have all we need to say Anouk killed Kirlia. I have been advised to treat the matter, according to Lord Zehna, as if Anouk is assisting in something. She is helping someone take the stones whether it is by her own volition or related to her previous demon encounter, we do not know exactly.” Telling the truth of his own feelings was pleasing, but at the same time he noticed the way Yeruell’s head shot up and his big eyes wavered with tears. As if to answer his cry there came a loud crash and a high-pitched female scream for someone to speak from one of the deep rooms below and Yeruell shot up. He darted toward the trapdoor in the far corner of the room but Floryas snapped his fingers around the man’s wrist and yanked him backward. “It will do you no good to get involved – you are the Speaker for the King, if you are even suspected of breaking the law you will be executed on the spot. Do you understand how much you’re needed by the people?”

  “Lord Benaga is one of the people, already I have humiliated her by disbelieving that something was wrong in our society and by making advances without proper consent because I was drunk. I have already broken our laws, Floryas… you might as well kill me now.” Yeruell stated, tears dribbling down his high cheeks as he tried to yank his arm out from the Lord’s reach and investigate the torture. But once more Floryas snapped his hands on the young lord’s shoulder and he gave a vicious growl of irritation.

  “For the sake of the king I won’t react to anything you say today… but if I take you down there you must not aid Benaga in anyway. You cannot even touch her… you won’t even want to look at her.” Floryas coughed and Yeruell turned to look at him with nervous eyes as the police officer growled again. “She’s been interrogated for at least an hour now, first I questioned her for information, I even threatened her sister and nothing new came from it. Then Zehna sent in Skabrat who poisoned her but nothing new emerged… not even a demon sign was produced. Skabrat was then told she could use violent means due to Benaga’s experience with torture methods…. She was stripped and has been whipped for a good few minutes… the poor girl’s body will be as red as her hair by now.”

  “I understand… but Anouk is my friend and if I can at least try to talk to her for you, maybe we can find something out.” Yeruell whispered, his voice becoming hoarse with desperation as his stomach knotted in displeasure. He could not envision Anouk bleeding from head to foot, could not imagine her without her clothes save only in his deepest dreams… he could only imagine her as the tough woman she was, standing firm and proud. This whole event, its lack of proper evidence was just more fodder for Yeruell’s heartfelt cause on the need for change in this terrible society.

  The trapdoor was opened and there was the sound of a woman crying in the little pocket cavern below as they slowly descended the ladder into the dimly lit circle. But it was not the bloodied mess of Lord Benaga upon the floor that was weeping, instead it was Lord Skabrat sitting at the desk with her face oozing sorrow as she begged for Anouk to blame someone. The heaving mass of red hair and crimson blood upon the floor was not speaking, did not even seem conscious but by the luck of the length of her locks, her feminine shame was invisible as she lay curled up on the floor. There was a smell of urine mixed with that of blood, evidence that Anouk had been brought to her very limit of strength and humiliation but still not been able to give them any kind of information. With her loyalty being so fierce it was almost possible to believe that she was protecting her accomplice, but still it was inconceivable that she would turn her back on the king.

  “Ilos? Oh, Nabuto guide us… I have never hated my job so much in my life… on any other being secrets would have been pouring from their mouth as easily as the blood from their wounds, but Anouk says nothing. She cannot be guilty of anything, she has been forced to speak her truth by the serum and all she can say is that she had just remembered meeting the Karayan before! All she would tell me was that she was trying to remember the past and that the Karayan was not a demon…. She didn’t even look at the stone save for a brief glimpse when she met with Damara… she says she still doubted if it was not a false rock.” Heina Skabrat was in a state, even with her dark purple hair wrapped into a tight bun clamped to her skull by the black bonnet strapped to her head, strands had come loose, and she had clearly been upset by the matter. As head torturer and head of the prison, Heina had known and seen many horrible things and never flinched or shed a tear until this moment where her own precious student was being subjected to such villainy because no one knew what had happened.

  “Ilos?” The wavering voice of Anouk broke through the tears and straightaway Yeruell jolted to move forward. Floryas swiftly grasped him and yanked him back in earnest but Anouk understood her elder friend was present. She rolled clumsily onto her side, stretching with arms that were blackened by drying blood out before her as she straightened herself into a sitting position. She clamped her legs about her form, trying to keep shielded what no one was supposed to see of her save a husband, her long red locks slipped forward to cover her nipples but the scar across her body was still visible and still as wretched and foul as ever. It was the first time Yeruell had ever seen Anouk so naked, that he had seen the scar in its entirety as the full length of hair could not disguise the oversized and out of place colouring of the severed nipple.

  “I’m here Lord Benaga… you’re not dying so don’t you dare ask me to hear your last will and testament.” Yeruell snapped at her, trying to control the new tears and rage that fell from his eyes as he looked to her trembling form. Her chest lifted and fell in shallow pants as she tried to steady herself and turned her bruised eyes towards them, their fire had not gone, and their ardour stabbed into all three lords present. She was able to give a soft smile of appreciation but Yeruell only wanted to scream at her when she gave a soft whimper and tried to speak her concerns.

  “I do not know what has happened… I was wrapped up within my own troubles and did not leave my household… but I have no one to corroborate my story as I saw no guards and I stormed out of the party. If the Dreggs or the cattle could speak they would tell you… in the barn the hay has been disturbed and the latch was freshly opened by me… but I could still not convince you. The last thing I fought with my blade was the demon, but I could not kill it….” To hear her speak her truth again made Skabrat moan in upset and Yeruell shake his head violently. He did not want to hear the same things, to hear that Anouk understood there was no hope for her in this matter and he wanted to try and tell her to shut up, but it was already too late to try and keep her quiet or beg for her to just fade into sleep. “My greatest concern… was that Lord Lutas has been involved in this matter as he was told of the stone’s location and Ynvirius was under his command… Ijah was once in his command too…”

  “Shut up Anouk! For the love of your life stop talking about Lutas – he has an alibi for this situation
he was seen chatting with his students by everyone! You cannot blame him for any of this!” Yeruell snapped, practically screaming at her as he knew she could not be correct. He had known Lutas long enough to understand that the figure was nothing but loyal to the king and that just as Yeruell’s own plan did not require the removal of king or stones, Lutas had no interest in them either. But he could tell that Skabrat and Floryas were feeling very uncomfortable with the situation and very concerned as they looked to one another and then shook their heads. Yeruell then fell onto his knees and howled at Anouk to give some other name… even if it did not exist just to give them something.

  “I am a Benaga… I will not lie about anything; my blood had the chance centuries ago to claim the kingdom, but we did not. We chose to serve and protect the king we knew could rule and as that king has not changed our family motto has remained the same…” Anouk muttered in her weakness, swaying back and forth gently but knowing that if she so much as tried to close her eyes to sleep, Skabrat would have to use the poison to send her into an exhausting spasm to stop her body shutting down. The torture was not over yet, even if Skabrat wanted it to be and Anouk knew she would get through all three days of it, no matter how much of her body and mind were destroyed, if only because her heart would remain the same. “For him that hath, our blood is spilt – my grandfather told me a story of his eldest brother who was in a boat with a man that revealed himself to be possessed. To save his men and his kingdom, that Benaga pinned himself into the possessed with his sword and tied himself to the barge… when the other men got out the area was flooded and both demon and Benaga drowned. The Benaga have never been traitors to the king… because we are the most loyal and obedient… Otzell knows this, or he would have killed me himself.”