In Dreams I Lie

Chapter Five: Secrets Lie On Serpent's Tongues

Sansori and I must have been through what seems like hundreds of suitors. The day wanes on, a horrid string of people trying their hardest to impress us. Some talk about money, some land, some our beauty, and some the power they possess. Sansori sits forward on her chair with an rapt expression, talking, laughing, and flirting. I slump back in my chair, speaking in pointed sentences and raised eyebrows. In truth, I feel a bit ill. Maybe this is what cattle feel like in the sparse market places of our kingdom. Yet I get a choice where a cow does not.

Sansori leans over and whispers to me. "I think that last one's super cute. Have you seen anyone you like, Arcadiel?"

I shake my head, mouth clasped firmly shut. I will let Sansori choose first. Even if there was someone I felt for, I would let her choose. My happiness has been forsaken for a long time, it is hers that matters now.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt you to try, Arc. You can choose to be happy, you know."

I stand abruptly. Addressing the guards, I say, "Please. I need some air. We can continue later."

Looking slightly shocked but compliant, after all, while I'm not the king or queen, I am one of the princesses, the guards open the door for me. I police my stride to an even pace, even though I long to run. Our courtyard is small, and located in the center of the castle. Through it, the servants have managed to corral a small river, even though you won't find another one like in the dry land. The palace is a bubble. Over this river there runs a small bridge, bordered by trees.

My focus is on the water when I slam into him. My feet slide, and head before the rest of me, I nearly hit the ground. But I don't.

"Are you alright?"

I gaze into the eyes of my savior. Strange they are, blacker than you see as the norm in the Southern Kingdom.

He pulls me to my feet. "Are you alright, Princess?"

I massage my bruised wrist and attempt to straighten my skirts. "Fine."

He looks a me quizzically. Most likely, he's another suitor, but he doesn't have the domineering, self assuming quality of the others.

"Princess?" He inquires when I start gazing off into space.

I decide automatically that I hate him. "Sansori's inside." I start walking up the bridge, pointedly not looking at him. I wish it would rain. It never does here, but the sun looks too cheerful. "You can go wait with the others."

Now he looks even more off guard than when I first slammed into him. "I'm sorry, Princess?"

Against my better judgment I face him. My nose wrinkles with disgust.  "Well? Be on your way."

He doesn't leave. The boy just stands there, hands crossed, staring at me. I feel heat rise to my cheeks, accompanied by a slight sure of magic. Back of, Acradiel. Calm yourself down. 

"You heard her." Now I turn again. I am begining to feel a little like a ball, the kind children bounce at eachother during moments free of work. Ammon has entered through the spy's door at the back. Jerlla is with him, wringing her hands nervously over her apron. So is Koen, his hands gripping the hidded weapons I know lie under his belt.

The boy nods deferentially, and disapears out the other side.

I let annoyance flicker over my face and draw out the dagger I keep stitched into the hidden pocket in my dress. It's gold hilt and blade flickers with the light cascading over the mellow water.

"Ammon, I could have taken him. I'm not helpless. You know that. You trained me right along side Koen. Seven out of ten times I can beat him in a fight!"

The spymaster nods. "I know your skills, Acradiel, and I'm not doubting you. But it never hurts to be extra careful. Today is important. You should go back in. Let Koen walk you."

Ammon seems unusually on edge today, his bulky form taught with energy and worry. This is not the teacher I have come to know. What is he hiding from me?

I put up my hand. "No. I'm fine. This is my home. I am capable of walking through the corridors without escort."

Ammon acts like he's considering it, then nods.

Koen looks like he might explode. "But sir, surely with the state of things!" He finally blurts out seemingly unable to contain himself.

Ammon attempts to elbow him to silence, but I am already speaking. "The state of things, Koen? What aren't you telling me?"

If I know the man who has trained me in combat from age nine, I know that Ammon is severely displeased with Koen. The thought makes me squirm with vindictive pleasure. I despise being lied to. Falsehood by omission is just as much of a crime.

Ammon clears his throat. "Nothing, my Lady, I swear. We just worry with so many men about." His lies sing to me as clear as day. But I pretend to buy them, even though I feel mildly insulted that Ammon regards my intelligence so low. "Come, Koen," He continues. "We must give our reports to the king.

It goes without saying that I will follow them. As usual, they have me leave first, to keep an eye on my exposed back. I make my way inside, then round the stone corridor wall to wait for them to pass me. Removing my shoes, I pad carefully along the stone sections of the floor that won't make a sound when I step on them. If the spies are to deliver a report to my parents, they will be going to a sealed room just off the main throne chambers. Architects made it from the same material they make zeppelin cabins from. Completely sound proof. Of course unless two little girls decide to carve a patch away for listening that is.

I reach the hole Sansori and I used to listen from. Behind a fireplace and two statues, the nook is well concealed even I have to bend myself into an ungodly shape to fit. Voices pipe up from the hole. We were clever little girls, Sans and I.

"My lord, the North is on the move. Not only have their armies surrounded the West, but the East Princess has disappeared." Ammon.

My father speaks next. "The princess?"

"Yes, your highness." That's Koen now. "We fear he means to either take Princess Regent Arcadiel or Crown Princess Sansori."

My heart begins to speed to an uncontrollable rhythm. Magic, both sorts, rises and falls within me like the tide. I keep my ear pressed against the wall, desperate to hear more. Sansori...in danger.....

"Good heavens." My mother.

"If we had know..." Jerlla was always softer.

"Or? But not both? Why?" Father always puts off unpleasant truths.

Ammon explains. "They only took one of the heirs from the East. You know siblings rule together, but they only took the eldest. Maybe as a way to persuade the kingdom to make a trade."

"A trade?" My father again.

"Yes." Koen speaks. "We believe, your highness, they are after Arcana's crowns."

The crowns. If the North is after them, death will be swift and forth coming.