Messenger

Chapter 23

 Miki's heart raced as she ran along the long dirt road leading to the castle spurred on by a mob that couldn't have been too far behind her. Fukase had wanted to take off for the palace the moment he heard that anyone would be threatening his family, but she had convinced him to hold off until they could get more information. Sure, there had been unrest in town, but storming the castle? Isn't that going a little too far?

Clearly not, all things considered, since now the two of them needed to hightail it out there before things could get too bad. It's bound to look very bad that a pair of random townspeople would be showing up with a security threat in the middle of a royal ball, but there weren't many other options. Miki still didn't think that anyone would be violent although it would be worth warning them so anyone at the castle wouldn't attack the protesters in defense. All she wanted to do was stop anybody from getting hurt.

"We're close!" Fukase yelled over his shoulder albeit unnecessarily. The lights of their destination shined in the distance glowing out of every window contrasting against the now darkened sky as it slowly got closer.

The wind whistled past Miki with the night chill settling in. "Sounds great." How did Peeks run this far?

That didn't look to be bothering Fukase in the slightest, still pushing ahead with full determination to stop anything from going wrong despite the doubt that it could be too late. Even if it was, he probably wouldn't stop. Miki never heard the full extent of Fuka's history, but she knew enough to understand his desperation. If a two-man brigade would help him feel a bit more at peace, then who was Miki to stop him?

The lights grew closer. Their game plan was to go in the side entrance where the deliveries would go and find any of their known people to pass along the message. No one in their right mind would just take the word of a pair of randos, but you can't exactly argue with the word of the princess and her advisers. Hopefully, that'd be enough to get everyone out of harm's way.

"Remember, we need to be quiet." Miki stated as they watched a pair of guards go inside.

Fukase rolled his eyes. "Of course. I'm one of the quietest people you know."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She made a shushing motion while starting to dash indoors.

The hall's lights were dimmed and only the soft light emitted from outside shown in, reflecting off the polished walls and lamps. Sadly, this wasn't the time to admire fine architecture and it wasn't helping with figuring out which corridor led to the ballroom. Faint music could be heard, but that wouldn't guarantee that whatever hall they followed would go to that location. Suddenly the architecture seemed much more annoying than pretty.

Without warning, Fukase started down the walkway. "I think it's this way."

"How would you know?" We can't be basing this off of a gut feeling or something like that.

"Just trust me on this." He called behind him. "I've got a good feeling about this direction and it's not like we can just ask the next guard where to go."

"That still sounds like a quick way to get more lost." Miki followed along regardless. There's no way she'd let them get separated right off the bat.

"We're at a main door. I would hardly say we're lost."

Why did Fuka need to be insufferable at all of the worst times? "That's not the point."

The two of them could bicker like that until the end of time; trading remarks over the most stupid of things while Piko watched on in confusion and Oliver joked that they needed to get the popcorn. Of course, that's in normal times when the building they currently in wasn't about to be under siege.

"Who's there?" A voice shouted through Miki and Fukase's comments from a bend in the interior, sounding defensive and under that, afraid. Understandably, any person here wouldn't be welcoming for two 'hobos' that straight-up broke in, but it sounded like this someone was just shaken to their core and hadn't recovered.

The issue was that the voice was too familiar. Piko and Flower inched around the corner causing Miki to have a double-take not only because this is some strange timing, but also because the princess, in particular, looked to be in bad shape. Dress completely torn along the edges as if someone tangled it in a thorn bush and discolored bluish-purple bruises splayed across her visible skin as Flower tried to carry her own weight without leaning on Piko. Peeks may not have been physically beat-up, but shock and cautiousness plagued his features.

"What happened to you?" Fukase questioned bluntly and a little more than concerned.

Flower tried again to stand completely on her own. "Why are you guys here?"

"That doesn't matter right now. What the hell happened? It looks like you just lost a fight with a temperamental horse."

Both of them winced slightly. "Close enough. Replace temperamental horse with a temperamental king and you've got it." Flower noted, the joke not matching the clear shaken demeanor of them both.

"He did that?" Fukase wasn't even trying to keep his voice down now and Miki felt no need to stop him. "Why the hell would he attack you guys?"

Thundering footsteps rang across the floor causing Flower and Piko to focus on their surroundings before Piko spoke up. "We can explain later, but we really need to go."

"And you need to explain why you're here." She added, speed walking away as fast as her injuries would allow.

Right, Miki had things to warn them about despite the terrible timing. "Well, you're going to be having some other... guests tonight."

"Guests?" Miki knew her brother well enough to know that he wasn't great under pressure let alone under attack, but there was no way around this one.

Sadly, Fukase beat her to it. "Over half the town in storming up here to riot about tax money being spent on parties."

"Waita' break the new gently!" Does he have no situational awareness?

"We don't exactly have time for that." Fukase turned his attention to the pair leading the way. "You need to talk to your advisers and tell them what's happening including the King's meltdown and fast."

"That's the plan!" They tried to pick up the pace, but the stumbling steps still gained ahead like the person was hurling themselves forward with reckless abandon. Seeing as Flower got away the first time, King Howard wouldn't have been in the best shape, so how would he catch up to them? Honestly, who designed this castle's layout? Miki really wanted to have a talk with them after all this crap. Okay, still not the time for architecture ranting.

Piko glanced back. "We're close!"

"But not close enough." A tight breath sucked in through their teeth. "You'd think a princess that's lived here her whole life would know the passageways in her own palace."

King Howard limped out from a crossing path, almost collapsing forward and if Miki thought Flower got hurt, then the King was nearly incapacitated. What used to have been detailed bead and jewel work was unraveled and leaving a trail of glittering pieces behind him falling from his hunched back making it appear that Flower nailed him hard in the gut. "You can't get away this time."

He continued forward. "I've got you now and no one else can get in the way."

"Are you sure about that?" Three small figures dashed out from the crossroads with one other lagging back. "Did you really think we wouldn't keep an eye on these guys tonight?"

"Len?"

"Kids!?"

I wrote a good chunk of this on my brother's laptop meaning that it wasn't having a fun time with all of these Japanese names and the fact that flower is normally a noun not a name. Also, his device is weirdly smooth on the bottom, so I've near butterfingered it into the void a few times. I'm sure he'd be thrilled with that. Remember to drink some water and stay safe out there!

-TheLavenderNarwhal