Lèse-majesté

Part 50

Chapter 49

"Okay, so what was the plan again?" Ruffnut asked as the group tried to be stealthy. Though considering the twins were in the group they weren't that successful and had to fend off two more squads of guards. So far the trail of bodies left behind as they descended the stairs to the throne room was quite substantial.

"I said it when we first arrived here and I'll say it again," Tuffnut grumbled as he had the weight of the King draped over him. "Why is the Throne room on the third floor?!"

"Well it's a lot easier to defend than when it is on the ground floor," Theodora mentioned.

"But mostly it's arrogance," Evelin added with a roll of her eyes. "Some ancestor king probably wanted to sit higher up than the peasants,"

"I think it was Ernest the 2nd that built this castle," Theodora mused. "Quite the odd one really. Had four wives before his untimely demise. All sisters."

"Oh? How did he die?" Ruffnut asked, intrigued.

"Stabbed by his third wife... repeatedly." Astrid answered. "Rumor has it that she did not want to share,"

"You know what... he had it coming!" Tuffnut declared.

"Shush," Mala uttered towards the group as they reached the landing on the third floor. "I hear voices."

True enough once everyone was quiet Astrid too heard some voices. They were coming from the heavy oak doors that led to the throne room. The voices were muffled so she could not hear all that was said. Another thing that was odd was the lack of security. They encountered no knights guarding the throne room like they expected.

The group was hesitant to enter as muffled yelling could be made out from the other side. But with no other choice than to confront the people on the other side, they pushed open the doors just in time to see Prince Grimmel shove a double-edged sword through the imposter King's ribcage.

The imposter had clearly not been expecting that and gurgled, spitting out blood, as the Prince retracted his blade. The body fell forward, blood pooling around it and soaking up into the red carpet turning it a sickly shade of burgundy.

"Well..." Grimmel started speaking to his knights when he heard the oaken doors creak open. He stopped mid-sentence and all eyes turned towards the other end of the hall. Immediately his eyes turned stormy with rage as he spotted the Berkian ambassadors, Lady Astrid, and his grandmother.

"What are you lot standing around for?! Get them!" He barked at his knights who had been standing at attention while their Prince dealt with a loose end. The knights drew their weapons and approached the ragtag group who looked to be at a disadvantage. The term being 'looked'.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Both Ruffnut and Tuffnut charged into the throne room and towards the approaching knights with matching halberds.

"Where did they get those?!" Astrid uttered as she knew that they did not have those weapons minutes ago.

"Over there Lady Astrid," Dame Mala pointed towards two sets of ornamental armors near the wall that were now bereft of their weapons while she also unsheated her sword.

"Leave some of those traitors for me!" Dame Mala shouted at the twins who were slashing and hacking at the knights before she too entered the battle.

The clang of swords was heavy in the air. Both Theodora and Evelin stayed behind with the still weakened king. Astrid on the other hand noticed the Crown Prince trying to get away through one of the side doors so she sprinted past the battle happening in the middle of the throne room, Tuffnut yanking a knight back that was targeting her, and jumped Prince Grimmel just as he was pulling on the large door handle.

"Get off of me you wench!" Grimmel struggled before managing to shove Astrid off of him. She landed several paces back in a crouch and then glanced around her. The Prince was getting up again, and with his ire now focussed on her she quickly made a grab for the morning star that a suit of armor was sporting nearby.

Astrid had practiced before with axes so she had the upper-body strength to wield a Morningstar, the only problem was that she never actually used one. She swung it at the Prince's head, who merely ducked and took a step back, then smirked at her knowing that the Maquess was at a disadvantage.

"Your little revolution is going to fail if that is all you got," The Prince jokingly uttered, now seeing Lady Astrid as less of a threat. He looked her up and down and what a sight she did make. Dressed up and ready for the ball in an expensive gown, yet hair disheveled from the tussle earlier and holding quite a heavy weapon. Astrid clenched her fists around the Morningstar again and lunged at the Prince only for said man to side-step and grab her by the throat.

Grimmel squeezed hard enough for her to gasp for breath and drop her weapon to claw at his hands.

"Now now, this isn't how a lady should behave," The Prince uttered as he started dragging a trashing Astrid to the balcony previous Kings had used to address the populace.

"You should have listened to me and accepted my proposal," Grimmel said as he continued to drag Lady Astrid. He held her up against the doorframe by placing his elbow against her throat, hard.By now Astrid had left several clawmarks along his arms which were turning red. Her nails dug into his elbow as she struggled while her feet barely reached the floor. "Now are you going to be a good girl and give me what I want?"

"Go sit on a pike," Astrid spat out which earned her a slap across the face.

"First thing I'll teach you as my wife is subservience," Grimmel growled.

Astrid finally managed to get her shoes on the ground somewhat to activate the mechanism that revealed and retracted the knives in her heels. "First thing I would teach you is to be humble as a eunuch." Astrid spat out before, headbutting the Prince who had been leaning close to her cheek and then stabbing him in the thigh with one of her shoe knives.

"Dammit I missed," Astrid growled as she sank against the doorframe, the Prince's hold on her slacking as he stumbled back with a yelp of pain. She was aiming for his crotch but this would do she surmised. Lady Astrid followed up her previous action with a quick uppercut, something she learned from her Knights. She hit the Prince's jaw and the man stumbled back but not for long.

Grimmel's ire had turned to seething rage as he looked at the woman who dared defy him. The Prince lashed out, backhanding the Marquess across the face and causing her to stumble backwards onto the balcony.

"You will pay for disrespecting your Prince!" Grimmel growled as he proceeded to shove Lady Astrid over the edge of the balcony she had been leaning on.