Her Rightful Place

49: The Bandit

Upon returning to his own carriage after his conversation with Princess Mireille and the Duchess of Alsantias, King Christophe is surprised to find within one of the bandits, bound at the wrists and ankles and tied at various points to fixtures within the carriage so that he cannot move from his seat therein.

"A captive, from those who attacked us, Your Majesty," one of the King's personal guards explains in response to King Christophe's inquiring expression. "We thought perhaps you might like to interrogate him, in case he knows something that might prove useful to our own goals—"

"Yes, of course. Well done. But we will interrogate him while we are en route to our next destination. At least one of you in the carriage with us. We appreciate your efforts to restrain this ruffian, but we shall not take any chances. Tell Jean-Luc to resume our travels at once," King Christophe replies, settling himself into the carriage. The guard to whom he had been speaking joins him after shouting the King's wishes to Jean-Luc, the servant masquerading as the King at the head of the royal caravan.

The bandit glowers menacingly at King Christophe. "No king of mine," he mutters, spitting contemptuously at the King's feet. The King's personal guard promptly backhands the bandit across the face, his gauntlet making the blow more painful than it would have been otherwise.

"Show some respect!" the guard orders.

The bandit laughs darkly. "Respect? Respect, after the show you lot put on? Using a wench to distract us an' kill our leader ain't showin' no respect to us. Playin' dirty, that is, an' y'ain't gettin' no respect from me after that nonsense, 'specially since you don't look like no king. Ain't convinced the wench told a lie, when she said y'ain't got no princess here, 'cept fer all them blokes with crossbows. Such weapons ain't common 'round these parts."

"Your rage at having been deceived is warranted, although perhaps you will be mollified to learn that we also were not expecting the woman in our company to do as she did to your leader," King Christophe replies mildly. He does not favor violent interrogation tactics and is somewhat annoyed at his guard for hitting the bandit.

The bandit, for his part, looks utterly confused by the King's response. "You makin' fun of me? More dirty tricks, t'be makin' fun of me while you got me trussed up like this—"

"His Majesty simply said that he understands why you feel you were tricked by the woman who killed your leader, and that we also were not expecting her actions," the guard translates for King Christophe, suspecting that the bandit has reacted this way because his vocabulary is far less expansive than that of the monarch.

"Yes, exactly. We apologize for using court language," King Christophe adds. We simply must do something to improve the education system in this country, he thinks. "Now, if you answer our questions truthfully, we will let you go free. If you do not answer our questions truthfully, we will have you hanged in the next town we stop in. Do you understand?"

"How you gonna know whether I tell you the truth?" the bandit demands, clearly thinking he has found a loophole in the King's ultimatum.

"Decades of experience dealing with political intrigues and common petitioners of the crown," the King deadpans.

The bandit seems to accept this. "Don't know if you's any kind of king or not, but you talk like one. I'll take your deal."

"Very good. Why did your group stop our journey and demand that we hand over the princess?"

"We been workin' that bridge crossing for years, takin' what we wanted from travelers. Rough 'em up a bit, take their money or goods, maybe have a pass at one of their wenches, if she was real good lookin'. Never had a problem like today before. Travelers started gettin' wise to us an' comin' armed, but we always outnumbered 'em and overpowered 'em. Anybody comin' through there was gonna get stopped by us."