Page 36 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)

CHAPTER 36 - HESTAN

D yna had fallen asleep an hour ago.

I had been sitting by the windowsill in her room ever since.

She’d asked me to stay and keep watch, terrified there would be another Vessel wandering around, trying to hurt other members of nobility and of Royalty.

There was no doubt in my mind that the Vessel had been acting alone and had only intended to punish the King, but still, to a child, to Dyna, such things were irrelevant. There was only a possibility of harm, and a memory of feeling as if it were about to befall you, without anything you could do to stop it.

I knew that feeling well. I remembered the attack on my village with the same vividness and emotions as I had experienced at the time. I remembered the feeling of helplessness, of having nowhere to run, no one to turn to, no way to save those you cared for, or yourself.

An image flashed before my eyes, my brother’s body, face down on the floor, and the man who had pulled a dagger from his back.

The same dagger that was in the hands of Audra’s Prince.

I knew I could not and should not draw conclusions too swiftly. It was possible that two such daggers existed, or even more than that. Of course, I knew Audra’s Prince himself was not responsible, but there was a chance he knew who was, who owned that dagger before him, or owned one identical to it.

My older brothers, my parents were dead. Several members of the Hunt had died over the years. The people from my home Kingdom were dying, starving.

And yet, I remained. I watched as people came and went. For someone who knew the powerlessness of being unprotected, I was, it seemed, very bad at protecting people.

There was a knock at the door. I looked at Dyna, she remained undisturbed.

I found it unlikely a Vessel would need to knock. They would have simply torn the door of its hinges.

But still, it was late, and Dyna wasn’t expecting anybody to arrive.

I slowly made my way towards it, not before, I drew my spear from my back and pointed it forwards.

I opened it.

“Captain!” The long sleeves of his dark shirt were folded up, and before I could close the door, he pressed his palm against it.

This was the last thing I needed.

“Prince,” I replied, lowering my spear.

“I thought that you might be here. Fulfilling your duties day and night.”

The Prince was dressed sparsely, his shirt half open, his brown skin partially exposed. I looked away and over his shoulder.

“Let us speak outside, Your Highness, the Lady is sleeping.”

“Wonderful. So, you can come with me after all.”

I furrowed my brows, my lips twitched in a silent question.

“I need your help.”

I dreaded asking.

“With?” I met his eyes.

“A delicate matter,” the Prince smiled warmly, and tilted his head, exploring my face with his eyes keenly.

“Your Highness, I’m sure there are people far more equipped to assist you.”

Helping Audra’s Prince with a ‘delicate matter’ seemed the very definition of foolishness.

“But you are the only person I can trust with the task.”

I sighed and turned to look at Dyna one last time. Although I had the illusion of a choice, I could sense that refusing the Prince was impossible.

“Lead the way, Your Highness.”

The Prince finally took his palm off the door. “I knew you’d agree. You can put the spear away now.” He waved his hand in the direction of my weapon.

I placed it in the straps at my back and followed him through the Palace. He managed to avoid all the areas which were heavily guarded and led us both through the path with least visibility.

He had certainly been utilising his time wisely. It was chilling, to think of how much he already knew about this place, and its secrets. How many secrets he had of his own.

We stopped outside a large room.

I looked at him confused. “Who resides here, Your—"

“You’ll see.” His voice had dropped to a whisper.

He knocked the door, in what seemed like a patterned or coded manner.

It opened slightly, the Prince stepped inside, and I followed.

Lord Elias was standing at the front of the room.

I looked at Audra’s Prince from the side. He gestured at me with both his hands.

“I’ve brought the help.”

Lord Elias looked at me and then at Audra’s Prince, seemingly very irritated.

“Are you fucking serious?” he addressed Audra’s Prince.

My mouth opened slightly and closed in the same instant. Had he really just addressed him in that way? I knew that Lord Elias had little regard for such things, but still, any sane person would have bitten their tongue around the Prince, surely.

I recalled the words that escaped my lips earlier in the day, as I stood beside him, next to the Vessel he had killed. It seemed even I was not immune to such recklessness.

Audra’s Prince, however, didn’t seem to care at all. “What are you complaining about? Do you have any other alternatives?” He placed his hands on his hips.

“You may as well have brought the Grand Prosecutor himself.”

“Oh, come on…he’s not that rigid.” Audra’s Prince winked at me. I peered at him, confused. He was clearly some kind of interlocutor in this situation.

Lord Elias looked at me. “He’s—"

“My Lord,” I spoke up. It was uncomfortable to hear them both speak about me as if I weren’t even present. “I am willing to help you, and I am able to be discreet about the matter,” I confirmed the Prince’s statement.

“For fucks sake.” Lord Elias spoke into his hands. He looked up at me. “If you speak a word of this to anyone, I don’t need to tell you what will happen.”

Another threat to my life to add to the ever-increasing tally.

“No, My Lord, I am quite clear about that.”

“Stop calling me My Lord,” Elias groaned.

“Yes," Audra's Prince chimed in. "Instead, you should refer to him as the murderer of… this man.” The Prince shoved past Elias, who until now had been standing in front of…

A dead body.

I drew in a sharp breath, as cutting as the feeling of shock that seized me. I recognised the man instantly.

“How did this happen?” My voice was strained as I looked at them both.

Audra’s Prince shrugged. “I have no idea. Would you like to share?” he asked Elias.

“Just get rid of him.” Elias walked away and grabbed a sack full of something as he left the room.

Now I understood. I turned to Audra’s Prince after Elias had left and licked my lips before I spoke.

“You’ve called me here to help you dispose of a dead body.”

He squinted at me. “Very observant.”

I pressed my lips together. “Your Highness, this situation could place me in great danger, as well as the Lady I am escorting.”

Audra’s Prince placed his hands behind his back and leant forwards. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you display any sort of emotion, Captain. You seem” —he narrowed his eyes further— “angry?”

“I am not pleased,” I said tersely.

“Well, you’ll have to remind me to make it up to you sometime.”

I would much rather he didn’t.

Audra’s Prince lifted the man’s arm around his shoulders. “We don’t have much time, and you’re here now. We’re leaving out of that window and going around.” He pointed at the window in question. A small window.

“But Your Highness, the window is very—"

“One of us will climb down, the other will drop the body to them, and climb down afterwards. Then we will proceed.” He nodded to himself at his plan, then after a pause said, “You go down first.”

I was trying to process everything that had occurred within the last few minutes. I stared at the window, my mouth falling open slightly.

“Are you waiting for something?” the Prince asked.

I sighed. The Prince was right. Unfortunately, I had been complicit in these events the moment I had stepped out of Dyna’s room.

I deftly leapt from the window to the ground, which was a few feet below. I turned around, I barely had any time to do so before the dead body was flung at me by the Prince. I tried to catch it, but in vain, ended up crashing to the ground. He landed in front of me, crouching.

“I thought members of the Hunt were supposed to be agile.”

I pushed the dead man off me. “We don’t usually have dead bodies thrown at us, Your Highness.”

“Sounds rather dull,” he said as he stood. He grabbed the man by the arms again and placed one around his neck, he nodded at me to do the same. I did.

“Where are we… going?” I asked.

“Normally, I’d try to make this look like an accident, or a suicide, but the wound makes that impossible. So, we will find a body of water.”

He spoke of these things so casually. I truly wondered how he did.

“There aren’t any close by, Your Highness.”

“There’s one South of here, a mile or so.”

“A mile?” I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice.

“You’re strong.” He poked my upper arm with one hand quickly. “It won’t be a problem.”

I looked down at where he had touched and then back up. “I’m more concerned about being discovered.”

“You worry too much, Captain.”

“I think this scenario warrants a certain level of anxiety.”

“Perhaps you’re right. I wouldn’t know,” he said softly.

I glanced at him over the dropped head of the dead man.

“He was escorting the Princess. What will she do?”

“The Princess killed him,” the Prince said bluntly.

“What?” My voice was sharp. How was it that I had been roped into assisting Audra’s Prince, in hiding the body of someone who the Jurasan Princess had murdered, in a member of Vasara’s Court’s chambers.

“The King’s cousin denies it, he’s protecting her for some reason, I can’t say why.”

“But how do you know that—"

“I know, Captain. I thought you didn’t want to be involved in this. Why are you asking so many questions, then?” He looked at me, amused, a half open smile forming on his face.

“I’m involved now, Your Highness. I’d like to know in what exactly.”

The Prince, taking that as the required explanation, fell silent.

“Why are you helping him?” I asked, although I already suspected the answer.

“Why do you think?”

“How did you find out about—"

“Chance.”

Chance. I didn’t think so.

I stopped moving.

“What are you doing, Captain?” Audra’s Prince sounded impatient.

I removed the dead man’s arm from my shoulder.

“Give me the Noxstone blade and I’ll help you.”

Audra’s Prince shoved the dead man’s body onto the floor. We stared at each other over it.

“I see,” he said flatly.

“I only want to borrow it for a short time. Then I will return it to you.”

“We’ve been over this, Captain. I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Then, Your Highness, I will be returning to my room.”

Audra’s Prince drew out the dagger.

Exactly what I had wanted him to do.

I knew he wouldn’t have agreed to my offer. But I wanted to see this dagger, and I knew that it was hidden on his person.

I looked at it intently. “Do you intend to use that?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shrugged. “It’s up to you to take the risk.”

“I don’t believe you would. Two escorts in one night would prove too suspicious.”

“Would it?” He raised his brows. “And how would I fall under that suspicion?”

“A risk,” I replied immediately. “It is up to you if you take it, Your Highness.”

The Prince wore a knowing smile, one tinged with a strange kind of ecstasy. “Well, perhaps two escorts battled to the death. Perhaps… they had a disagreement of principles. A convincing story given your” – he eyed me up and down – “personality.”

“It is not a convincing story,” I replied bluntly.

“No?...Isn’t it?”

“This man would not have been able to kill me,” I stated. If Jurasa’s Candidate herself had been able to kill him, then his skills would have been far inferior to my own.

The Prince laughed quietly. The sound rustled through the air lightly like leaves skipping down a path. “No… I suppose not.” His eyes roamed over me, focusing on nowhere in particular as he put the dagger back into a sheath at his belt. “I knew I was right about you, Captain.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant.

“But you heard the Lord’s word of warning. I can’t say that he’s someone who will follow through on his threats, but I can assure you I do. As well as my promises. I promised you would be able to look at the blade, but under circumstances of my choosing, not yours. So, you won’t be going anywhere.”

I decided to see if I could convince him.

“The dagger then.” I nodded to it.

“I’m quite attached to this one, I’m afraid. So, no.”

“Then, I must also decline, Your Highness.”

I shifted to the right to return to the Palace. But the Prince placed both his hands around his mouth, opened it, and yelled. “SOMEBODY HELP, HELLLLLP…”

I stared at him in shock. This man was truly unhinged.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at him.

“ANYBODY PLEEEASEEEE…”

I waved my hands in the air. “Stop!”

But the Prince continued. “HEEELPP PLEAA—"

Without thinking about what I was doing, I grabbed the Prince by his shirt, pulled him towards me and placed my right hand over his mouth.

The Prince’s eyes went wide, his two hands were resting on the arm I had used to pull him towards me.

What was I doing? This was a Prince and not just any Prince, Audra’s Prince. The kind of man that would have someone killed for doing what I had just done.

But the Prince didn’t make any effort to move. He just stood there, looking bewildered.

I dropped my hand from his mouth and let go of him.

“My apologies, Your Highness.” I averted my eyes.

Audra’s Prince said nothing.

“I agree. I’ll help you.” I bent down to lift the man’s arms around my neck. Soon afterwards, the Prince crouched to do the same thing.

“I knew you would.”

“That was dangerous, Your Highness.”

“That was the point, Captain.”

He liked to be in control. No. He liked to remind others that he was.

No. He was adaptable. Whether he was in control or not, the Prince could manipulate the circumstances to make sure that he was holding the reins.

Which is why he had helped Elias.

Which is why, in all likelihood he had saved the King’s life.

“Then, in return for my help, will you answer me a question, Your Highness?”

The Prince knitted his brows together, as if contemplating the risk. “I can’t promise I will answer, but you can ask it.”

We were a fair distance away from the Palace now, having just got out of its grounds. We were both breathing more heavily against the humid night air.

“Your dagger—"

“I’ve already told you—"

“No, I’m not asking you for it.”

“What then?” The Prince adjusted the man’s arm around his neck.

“Is there another like it? Or is that the only one in existence?”

Although it was dark, I could see the Prince squinting at the question, trying to figure out the nature of its origins.

“What an unusual question. Your fascination with Noxstone is…strange.”

I knew that asking him was a risk, but I was currently hauling the dead body of a nobleman with him, so the risk seemed small in comparison.

“Will you answer it?”

The Prince sighed. “Why do you want to know?”

“Will you answer me if I tell you?” I kept watching his face as we moved, tracking the changes in its demeanour, its expression.

“It depends on what you tell me.” He side-eyed me, smirking.

Everything depended on something else with this man. There was a clause, a condition, a consequence to everything.

I cleared my throat. “I have seen one like it before…many years ago…”

“Now that is interesting.”

“You may not believe me, Your Highness, but it is the truth.”

“No, no…I believe you Captain.” He sounded genuine.

A few people came down the street.

“Here." The Prince pulled my arm, directing me down a side alley. In doing so, he lost his grip on the dead escort between us, who lurched forwards towards him. In a quick reflex like movement, I reached out and grabbed the bodies’ torso harder, so that it wouldn’t fall.

“Your…Highness,” I struggled between words. “If you…would.”

The Prince, noticing what was happening, let go of my arm and returned it to the normal position.

“You are strong.” He let out a light laugh, escaping through his heavier breaths, propelling his chest up and down in steady movements.

I refrained from commenting.

“When?” he asked.

I was silent for a moment as I adjusted my position. The Prince, assuming I had misheard, repeated, “When did you see it?”

“When I was a child.”

“An eon ago, then.”

I closed my eyes, trying to compose myself. I was barely any older than him. This man’s insolence knew no bounds. I wondered how his sister even stood to be around him for longer than an hour at a time.

The Prince spoke again “In that case…it may have been the same one, or it could have been another. From what I know, there are three of these. They each have subtle differences in crafts…” —the Prince paused as he stepped over some trash— “…manship…but they would appear similar to you.”

I wanted to ask who possessed the others, but I knew he would not reply.

“You want to know who owns the others, don’t you?” The Prince glanced at me.

I opened my mouth slightly in surprise at his insight.

“You will not tell me, and I would rather not risk the condition your answer came with.”

“Who said there would be a condition?”

I gave him a side long glance, one that carried my answer.

I am no fool.

“As I said…I was right about you.” He grinned.

“Right about what, Your Highness?”

“I think I’ll keep that to myself as well.”

I suppose I should have anticipated that.

In time, we reached the body of water the Prince had mentioned. It was a large river, similar to the one we had met at, but much wider, and with a faster current.

And unlike the one we had met at, it was deserted.

The Prince lowered the body down to the ground. I did the same. Then, he kicked it in.

The body flew away in a matter of seconds. I stared in the direction it had disappeared in.

“Don’t pity him. He was a terrible person,” the Prince said.

I turned to face him. “Some may say the same of you, Your Highness.”

The Prince clicked his tongue. “I wouldn’t expect them to feel sad about my passing though.” He smiled thoughtfully.

Unsure of what to respond, I turned my eyes back to the river.

“Have you heard yet?” he asked me.

“Heard what, Your Highness?”

“So, you haven’t.”

“I suppose that you’ll be keeping that to yourself as well?” My face was impassive.

“No need, most will know in a sunrise or two.” He wiped his hands on his shirt. “There have been riots in Kalnasa.”

“Riots?” I knew why, without even needing to ask. I knew, I understood, but in the moment, I was overcome with a desire to repudiate reality.

“For how long?” I asked.

“That…I don’t know.”

I wondered about the other members of the Hunt. They no doubt would be one of the first to bear the brunt of the people’s anger. I wondered how they were faring, if any of them had been injured, or if any of them had joined the people in their fight.

“Will you stay here?” the Prince asked. “Or return?”

“Unless instructed otherwise, we will stay.”

“Even with a barren King as the prize?” He watched me with interest.

The King’s sacrifice. I had almost forgotten amid the events that ensued. But of all the things that had occurred, it was perhaps the most significant.

“It is not for me to decide.”

“You have more power than you think, Captain. You need not wait for others to decide for you.”

It made sense that he would believe and live by such a statement. A man who did whatever he wished.

I glanced pointedly at the river. “Recent events would suggest otherwise.”

“Recent events would only make it more important you remember.” The Prince looked at the water. “We’ll go back separately. You go first. Again.”

I refrained from commenting that he had just decided this for me.

I bowed. “Your Highness.”

“Be safe, Captain.”

I made a move to walk away, but before I did, the Prince called out.

“Three days from now. You can come to examine the steel three days from now.” He held three fingers in the air.

“Are you leaving, Your—"

“No. Three days. I’ll look forward to your visit.”

Which meant I had three days to come up with a plan.

To read this message directly in front of the Prince.