Betrothed

Chapter Eleven: Taking a Bath

"This is an outrage," the king shouted. "Not only do the Andjety have the audacity to invade our territory, and approach the castle, but to do such atrocity to one of our own." The king turned to Henry. "What exactly were you and Pitt doing in the Andjety village?"

"We were collecting intelligence. It had come to our attention that Nadeau has spies here in the city, perhaps even here in the castle. Pitt and I wanted to covertly infiltrate the nearest village to see if we could uncover any information that would give us a clue as to who they are."

"And how did you propose that would happen?" the king demanded. "Were you just supposed to show up and they were going to spill their guts?"

"It was my understanding that Pitt could speak Andjety fluently," Henry answered. "However, while in the pub, it became clear that while Pitt may have known a great deal of their language, he was not as proficient in their dialect. While attempting to pump people for information, he must have given away our identities."

"I have noticed for some time," Rupp interjected, "that Pitt had a high opinion of himself, but not a realistic one. It would be safe to assume that Your Majesty's assessment of the situation could very well be accurate."

"Well, that's all fine regarding how the two of you were discovered," the king retorted. "Meanwhile, we have a disembodied head on a pike, found by Princess Audrianna, which was set up in front of the castle bridge, in broad daylight, and a war empress that has spies within the city, and perhaps within the castle." The king looked at the prince, then at Lord Rupp, and back at the prince. "Did I miss any detail that I should still address?"

"That would be the summation of the predicament, Your Excellency," Rupp answered. The king rung his hands and paced back and forth on the lower floor of the royal court room.

"What a terrible, terrible pigswill we must deal with," the king replied.

"We have no option but to go to war, Your Majesty," Prince Henry responded.

"War?" the king bellowed. "Is war your answer to everything? Is violence your standard solution?"

"Father," Henry pleaded, "You must see that a diplomatic solution is not possible. Zymjai, the Witch, knew everything about me, and Audrianna, and the fact I couldn't take the throne. She sees our kingdom as weak. We must attack to demonstrate to her that we are indeed strong, and her act of aggression against Pitt will not go unpunished."

"I hear what you are saying, Henry, my son," the king answered, attempting to soothe the anger that was pent up in Henry's heart over the desecration of Pitt. "But even though we have a respectable size army, they are still no match for the marauders from the mountains."

"True your majesty," Rupp added. "However, if we plan no contingency against an onslaught, we will stand here vulnerable."

"Exactly," Henry replied. "All I'm saying is, we need to establish a plan of defense first, but also a plan of attack, keeping our eyes open for the opportunity."

"I guess it would be smart to do so," the king yielded. "Notify the magistrates. We will not have regular court today. I need all of our strategists to report here in one hour."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Rupp answered, then spun around and dashed out the door.

"Thank you, father," Henry said.

"All I can say is, this will be a way that you can win some valuable trust from me. Handle this situation with leadership skills, the skills of a king, and I will know you have what it takes to be a king someday-soon."

Audrianna and her Ladies in Waiting were soon notified that there would be no royal court that afternoon.

"Amazing!" Audrianna exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement. "No sword drills. No royal court. The better part of the morning picking flowers. And now, the afternoon decorating the room. What a great day! I feel like a child again."