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wordmage-girl · 7 years

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I would live a lost-princess trope trashing novel when the lost princess is returned but WHOOPS no, it's not her, it's an enemy spy set on dismantling the kingdom from within

That sounds amazing! Also it prompted me to write 2,000 words so here you go, with my deepest apologies:

Princess Cecilie Camellia of Sevonia, who had until recentlybeen known only as Cammie, the kitchen girl at the Shield and Rose, took toroyalty like a charm. The skepticism expressed by a few courtiers and royaladvisors at her discovery quieted down as soon as they saw her sweeping throughthe corridors, graceful and shy, the very picture of the king’s first wife,rest her soul. How beautiful she was, dancing with her half-siblings in hersilk gowns! How kind she was, giving away food to the beggars at the castlegate! How genteel she was, learning tapestry and court manners and the lap harpwith the ease of true royal blood.

Prince Filbert Frederic of Sevonia, son of the king’s secondwife, who had retired to an abbey after growing tired of the king’s philandering, did not like her one bit.“She’s using all twenty three forks like a natural,” he confided in PrincessGabrielle Galina, who was busy flicking olive pits at the Minister ofAgriculture.

“You’re just jealous because Papa is making much of her,”Gaby said, squinting to improve her aim.

Filbert frowned at her. “You know I would rather Papa notnotice me at all,” he said. “Last time he remembered I exist, I had to spend aweek at a hunting lodge with him and Alexander.”

“Yes, yes, and you had to cancel your tryst with what’s-his-face,I remember.” The olive pit landed in the Minister of Agriculture’s wine glass.“Listen, Cecilie has royal blood. Plus, she was working at an inn, so she knowshow to set a table, and she’s been learning proper manners and everything.There’s no reason for her not to use the artichoke pincers properly.”

“And how long did it take you to learn them?” Filbert asked.Gaby scowled. “She’s only been in the castle for two weeks! Besides, she was akitchen girl, and besides number two, no one outside the royal household usesthe artichoke pincers.”

“Really?” Gaby asked idly, filching Filbert’s olive pits.“How do they eat artichokes, then?”

“They don’t,” Filbert said, but Gaby had already turned herattention to filling Lady Troumant’s hat brim with olive pits.

“Oh, thank goodness,” said Cecilie, when Filbert found heron his way to the royal archives. “I’m hopelessly lost. This place is a maze,and it’s enormous.”

“Well, it is a castle,” Filbert said. “Where were you going?I can point you in that direction.”

“Oh, I was just wandering about, but I got so turned aroundand I promised Elena I’d have tea with her and her lady-in-waiting.”

“…Well, you’re on the opposite side of the castle from theliving compartments,” Filbert said slowly. “This is the ministry side of thecastle.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. You’re right next to the…” Filbert glanced at thenondescript door to the Royal Spymaster’s offices and hurriedly changed tack.“The Minister of Education’s offices.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yes, and I think I should walk you to Delia’s rooms. Likeyou said, this place is a maze.” He offered her his arm.

“Thank you so much, dear brother,” Cecilie said sweetly. Itwas too sweet. Filbert had grown up with enough noble girls to know that whensomeone looked at you like that, she actually wanted to kill you. Her grip onhis arm was feather light, but Filbert imagined that she wanted to dig hernails into his flesh. “That is so kind.”

“Gaby tells me that you’ve been worried about Cecilie’sadjustment to royal life.”

Filbert looked away from the window into the face of hisbrother. “Bastian. What are you doing out of a meeting? Are we at war?”

“Very funny, Filbert,” said Prince Bastian Bernard, who wasso rarely outside the castle that he was often rumored to be dead. He joinedFilbert at the window, which overlooked the castle gate. Currently, the beggarswhich gathered there were crowded around Cecilie, who was handing out food. Itwas quite a large crowd. “It doesn’t look like she’s having trouble adjustingto me.”

“I wasn’t exactly worried about her adjusting,” Filbertsaid. “I think she’s adjusting too well. Like, suspiciously well.”

Bastian raised an eyebrow. “Of course.”

“I mean, she knows everybody’s names, she gets all thedances right…she’s only been here for a few months. This isn’t normal.”

“Just because you can’t dance…”

“This isn’t about me!” Filbert snapped. “A week ago I foundher wandering around the spymaster’s chambers, claiming she was lost.”

“Maybe she waslost,” Bastian pointed out.

Filbert shrugged. Outside, a little girl handed Cecilie aflower.

“The people like her, and we could use their support rightnow.” Bastian patted him on the arm. “Do try to be less odd, Fil.”

Noise was made about Cecilie being wed to a suitable foreignking – she was of age, and the negotiations for Elena’s hand in marriage werealmost over, and how inappropriate that a younger daughter be married beforeher elder sister – and Filbert almost breathed a sigh of relief. Cecilie couldhardly make trouble for Sevonia if she was across the sea, ruling in Jaroc.

The king of Jaroc arrived for a visit. There were severalballs planned, and a feast that sent the kitchens into a tizzy. The balls werepleasant enough, the feast decadent. The king of Jaroc was handsome and dashingand solicitous.

It only took a few days for the whole thing to fall apart.Someone said something at a party, although later no one knew who had said it;a glass of wine was spilled on someone’s gown; a turn of phrase in a speechwent down wrong. The feast ended with Cecilie, pale and trembling, beingushered out of the hall, while dignitaries threw insults at each other.

The king of Jaroc and his retinue left Sevonia in highdudgeon.

“It could be worse,” Sir Oscar comforted Filbert. “They’re asmall kingdom.”

“The king’s aunt is Dowager Queen of Pela-Pela,” Filbertsaid glumly, naming one of the largest kingdoms in the area.

“You’re not even involved in ruling,” Oscar said. “Come on,have a drink. Dance with me.”

“Pass, thanks,” Filbert said. He hardly even noticed Oscarleaving.

For a while, nothing happened, but Filbert couldn't let itgo. Cecilie’s graces and mannerisms were too perfect, her behavior too good.She was everything a princess should be, when Filbert knew that the royalfamily was entirely comprised of horrible brats and selfish, power hungryassholes.

Something about her kept niggling at him until, in the finetraditions of royal brotherhood, Filbert payed off a castle page to report to him onCecilie’s doings. The girl fell ill within the week, but not before she toldhim that Cecilie was completely normal, and a lovely person besides. Why, theprincess had even given her candy.

The next page broke his neck. Filbert stopped paying thepages to spy on her.

Where Cecilie walked, ruin followed. Filbert was sure of it,but no-one believed him.

Cecilie had a picnic with Elena. Elena broke her engagementto Duke Galen, estranging one of the most powerful families in the kingdom.Cecilie danced with so-and-so. Feuds broke out in the court. Cecilie had aquestion for the Royal Treasurer. Papers went missing from his office, and aproclamation was issued to raise taxes which the Royal Treasurer claimed toknow nothing of. (The king was quite pleased with that turn of events.)

Of course, all of these things could easily be dismissed ascoincidences. Elena could have heard about the Duke’s mistresses from anyone.The court feuded constantly (although usually not so bitterly). People went inand out of the Royal Treasurer’s office all the time, and mistakes happened.

Filbert was not fooled.

It was a relief when Cecilie chose to join the royalhousehold’s excursion to the summer castle in June. Filbert always chose tostay behind, relishing the quiet and relative solitude. He dined with Elena,who was ill and could not travel, and he had his own duties to attend to, butsocial life crawled to a halt.

Three days in, a messenger came from the summer castle.Bastian had fallen from a cliff and broken his neck. He had been discovered byCecilie.

The kingdom donned mourning. Filbert resolved to act.

Bastian’s duties were heavy, and they were now Filbert’s.There was no time now to worry about Cecilie, not when he knew that the kingdomof Jaroc was extremely displeased with them, and the treaty with Pela-Pela wason shaky ground, and there was unrest in the city, and the border with Veronewas teeming with bandits, and the grain stores had gone bad with mold. On topof that, the spymaster claimed that there was a plan to assassinate the kingand his heir.

“Isn’t there always?” Filbert asked tiredly.

“A new plan,” the spymaster insisted. “To kill His Majestyand Prince Alexander Amery from the inside. Plant a mole.”

Filbert straightened in his chair instantly. “Do you knowanything else about this plan?”

“Not yet,” said the spymaster. “But I can find out, yes?”

“Yes. It is most important,” Filbert said firmly.

There were additional guards set around the king’sbedchambers. Alexander was forbidden from inviting anyone into his bed, unlesshe wished to wait until the spymaster interrogated them. The food tasternervously insisted on bringing on his assistant for the king’s every snack.

The kingdom could hardly bear the expenses. They werealready paying for extra patrols on the border, paying extra for every shipmentfrom Jaroc now, paying extra for grain from Pela-Pela. But bear the expensethey must.

Months later, when the extra guards had been retired and thespymaster was sure the assassins had fled the kingdom, the king decided to goon a hunting trip. He insisted that both his eldest sons come with him. Filbertinsisted that he was busy, and Bastian had always stayed behind, and besides,perhaps it would be wiser not to return to the hunting lodge this winter…

It was always, always worse to be right, Filbert decided,when the king’s corpse, peppered with arrows, was returned to the castle.

The coronation was a tiny thing. The royal procession waslikewise dull, and shorter than any in the history of the kingdom. All otherfestivities were cancelled, and Alexander was kept under lock and key. Noexcursions to the city, no parties, no women. The castle gates were closed andbarred. The guards were ordered to trust no one.

The people of the kingdom were worried. The people of thecity were terrified. The court was panicking.

Filbert had no time for them. Alexander was even less of aking than their father had been, and like Bastian before him, he had a kingdomto run.

It was late at night, and most of the castle was asleep.Filbert’s lamp had run out of oil, and instead of retiring for the night, heelected to work by candlelight. The grain shipments were being waylaid, and ahidden border garrison had been viciously attacked. Sleep was for people withless worries.

When the candle nearest the door flickered and went out,Filbert didn’t think much of it. By the time it had occurred to him to considerlighting it again, there was a knife at his throat.

“I thought you operated by morediscreet measures,” Filbert said to his inkwell.

“I did consider poisoning you,”said the dulcet tones of Princess Cecilie, “but the maids say that you hardlyeat, and I haven't much arsenic left.”

“That's too bad. I suspect Iwould have preferred death by poison.”

“Probably.”

Filbert cleared his throat.Carefully. “And what happens if I scream?”

Cecilie hummed, considering.“Then I escape through the secret passage behind the tapestry.”

“Good eye.”

“Castle plans.”

“Ah. Why not Alexander?”

“Don't be stupid. Your brotherwill run this kingdom into the ground all by himself. He's making my jobeasier.”

“Tell me about it.” Filbertwaved a hand at the paper littering his desktop. “Do you know how much thefamily spends on silks alone? I could feed the kingdom for a year if Elena gaveme her jewelry money.”

“I know. Really, I'm doing you afavor. You'd end up with your head on a spike sooner or later anyway, with theway the kingdom is going. At least I'm fast.”

“I suppose. Are you working forVerone? Or Hevriel? I can't imagine any of the coastal kingdoms pulling thisstunt. They're too busy infighting.”

“Wouldn't you like to know,”Cecilie said. “Look, I'm tired of this. It's been a long year, and I promisedHer Majesty I'd be done with you all a month ago.”

“Wait!” Filbert blurted. “I havean offer for you.”

Cecilie sighed. “This is gettingtiresome.”

“Listen,” Filbert said.

The next day Alexander was dead,apparently by his own hand, and Cecilie, next in line for the throne, wascrowned as Queen Cecilie Camellia, first of her name. Hers was a very long,prosperous reign, marked by a trade treaty with Pela-Pela, lower taxes, a moreaustere court, and the sudden death of all who opposed her.

Funny, that.

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bffhreprise · 7 years

Text

Entry 185

The night started off wonderfully. Plenty of influential witnesses arrived at the gala, so no one could reasonably accuse me of the robberies taking place. The first couple stops went without incident. Calamity, the would-be hero, arrived at the scene of the third stop just as I was leaving, which gave me a nice laugh. I wondered what she hoped to accomplish.

I set my machine, Theophany, to autopilot for a couple minutes as I went on stage to announce the next performer. When I returned to my seat, I focused on Theophany to resume manual control. The slight lag in this interface was always a bit disconcerting, but I didn’t even have ideas on how to further reduce it.

Within a minute, I was landing, almost finished for the night. Most of these stops were just for show, but a few were supposed to house some dirt in safety deposit boxes that I could leverage. I easily brushed aside the door and started cutting through the vault door. As I was sifting through boxes, a motion alert triggered, so I turned, finding Calamity charging at me. I shot her through the chest with my machine’s laser, but it was ineffectual as I suspected it would be.

I tried to grab her, so I might pin her down. The lag was making things difficult. Damage warnings started appearing. She was hitting my suit hard enough to dent the armor!? I fired Theophany’s thrusters, jumping back toward the entrance I had made. I needed more space to move. I didn’t have time for this. The cops were surely rerouting to here by now. Deciding to give up on this bank, I fired a missile at the entrance.

Calamity dodged, flipping back from it and actually kicking the missile into the air. I was impressed. I tried a series of smaller missiles, but she dodged well enough that the explosions only knocked her back for a moment. More disturbingly, I wasn’t getting any useful readings of that staff. Was it really just a big hunk of metal? How strong was she!? I used my laser to cut it in half, but there wasn’t any damage to it. Worse yet, she had used the time to get on top of me.

Theophany was actually taking substantial damage.I needed to escape. I swung to knock Calamity away, but there was a hull breach. The entire hand had been severed! I took flight immediately, smashing into a building as I attempted to level her out from the awkward takeoff. I was half afraid Calamity would give chase into the air. She had too many surprises for me this night.

As I did my best to maintain flight with the damaged and missing components, I considered this encounter. Half of that staff had changed into a blade, but what kind of blade could cut through this armor? I needed to make improvements if I were to ever come back here, but I wasn’t entirely certain where to begin. Instead, I started thinking through ways to capture an opponent, focusing on ones that’d completely immobilize them. Not only did Calamity have a dangerous weapon now, but she seemed to have learned how to fight extremely well.

If we met again, I wouldn’t want to be in my suit, so my plans would have to account for the lag. If she managed to disable Theophany entirely, I’d use the self-destruct and be nowhere near her to avoid capture. I knew I couldn’t handle her hand-to-hand. She seemed faster than me and had to be significantly stronger. I’d make more suits and work on software to help them act somewhat independently.

By the time Theophany was parked, I needed to do a last farewell. Taking to the stage, I said, “I do hope you all had a wonderful time tonight. Sorry for all of the disturbances. I never would have guessed this would be such a busy night in the city.”

Rushed, but I wanted to get out of town just in case. There was so much to be done. I still made a point to approach James one last time. I didn’t want to leave without speaking to him one last time.

“The evening was delightful. Thank you.” stated James II.

He wasn’t as tall as his son, but he was a competent businessman as well. Unfortunately, Lady Pendreigh was making a move on his business according to my sources.

I smiled at him and said, “We’ll be able to help so many children with the funds we’ve raised. Thank you all for your contributions.” Then I turned to James III and told him “James, I’m afraid that I’ll be leaving even sooner than I expected. Please do come visit anytime you wish. I’d love to show you around my city.”

“The packing is complete.” whispered Aengus.

I nodded and said, “Sorry, but I must be off. Thank you all again.”

I let Aengus guide me away as I considered what sort of bait might lure Calamity to my city. I needed time to build a suitable trap, but I had time. No one knew the true identity of Marvelous Max.

,,,^._.^,,,

I walked with Ai and Mai on my arms towards the limo, but all I could think about was how Maxine could be controlling her suit from the gala. She must have invented some sort of interface that could communicate directly with the brain, but how did it work? Any sort of transmission and scanning devices had to be extremely small if they were to be incorporated into her glasses. The long-ranged transmissions could be done by some device hidden in the area, but her goons probably moved it already.

My thoughts had carried me into the limo and part of the way home. I almost stood when James asked Mila to stop the car. I looked around for what caught his attention as he stepped out of the car.

“Are you okay?” asked James, calling out to someone across the street.

The man did seem injured by his gait, but that could be an old wound. What was James doing?

“Oh. I see how that must look to you.” stated Alma. “Let me show you the truth.”

The man suddenly flew toward her, but no one in the area seemed to care! She had to be using magic on them of some sort. I was glad she excluded me in whatever spell messed with their heads.

I saw why Alma acted as she did when the man was close. His flesh was rotting. His arms stretched out toward James as if wanting to grab him.

“A zombie!? Are you serious!?” I exclaimed. On my list of things I hoped to be confirmed as real, zombies weren’t toward the top, but they were still on the list. This was incredible!

“You could call it that, yes.” stated Alma.

I blinked and turned my head, unprepared for the flash of light surrounding the zombie. The man was gone when I looked back. Alma apparently incinerated him instead of wanting to investigate further.

“Let us be off then.” she stated.

“I didn’t realize you were having problems of that nature. My family has a specialist in these matters if you care for assistance, Lady Pendreigh.” offered Duncan.

“Thank you, but there’s no need. I’ll manage.” she replied.

“A zombie specialist? Are there so many in Japan that you need one?” I asked, still feeling excited.

“Of course not.” he stated, looking slightly offended. “We like to deal with these matters quickly, so we trained someone toward that end.”

I nodded glumly, having my short-lived dreams of seeing this specialist in action bashed.

“Most families destroy that sort of knowledge for good reason. Many of the practices are unsavory.” insisted Alma, apparently put off by word of the specialist.

Duncan was quick to assure her “We do oversee our specialist, Lady Pendreigh. There’s no need for you to worry about him doing anything unpleasant.”

I understood why he didn’t want too much of her attention in his family’s territory. The twins had told me enough to know that Alma could easily sweep everything they owned into her pockets on a whim.

“How long has this been happening?” asked James.

Alma stared at him for a moment before saying, “I encountered the first zombie nearly a week ago. Whoever is creating them seems to abandon them after he’s done with them, so I can’t simply follow one back to him.”

I nearly smirked at hearing her say “zombie”, since her accent even made zombie sound posh, as the twins occasionally put it. I started asking for details as the limo continued on its way. Ai and Mai kindly answered. When they told me of zombies marching on a town, I grew excited, imagining how that would look here. Unfortunately, the creation of so many was tedious enough to be impractical for most people, so I couldn’t look forward to z-day.

“I guess I’ll have to tell Aaliyah we don’t really need all of those provisions for it. She’s going to be so disheartened.” I informed them.

I still asked a few more questions on the way back, since my excitement wasn’t completely deflated. As horrific as a zombie apocalypse would have been, seeing it still could have been incredible, given my allies.

#Best Friend For Hire Reprise #Best #Friend #For #Hire #Reprise #Jovial Times #Jovial #Times #Fantasy #Fiction #Story #Alma #Ai #Duncan #Jaroc #Mai #Maxine

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