Mark of the Assassin

22th day of summer 89 N.W.

Aeria,

Father has died. The funeral will be held for him tomorrow morning, but it looks like Thea will also be dying. Thea has gotten much worse than she was. I fear that she will not last until fathers funeral. I did not cry for father, and I feel bad for it.

Mother had the babe the same day that father died. The babe is healthy and a baby girl. Mother will not leave her room and the servants are taking care of the babe. One of them has just had a babe too, so she is feeding our new brother. I have seen the babe. He is a fat babe. But, mother was also rather large when she was carrying him.

I know that this is not a long letter, but I do not wish to continue writing. There is too much sadness right now. I do not wish to lose Thea too. I prayed to the goddess and begged her to take Beatrix instead, but I do not believe that she is listening. She is probably busy with the rest of the pox deaths.

Goodbye, Love Francis.

A man walked into the room that Peter and I were sharing over break. Peter did not notice him at first, but I did. He was very tall and had hair similar to Peters. He was very tall and very large. I nudged Peter and he looked up. He slammed shut what we were writing and ran to the man I assumed was his father.

I shoved what we were doing under his pillow. There was no reason to concern Peter’s father with a list of who we suspected of hiring the assassin. He had just come home and deserved to greet his family before worrying about who was trying to kill them.

“I missed you!” Peter said as he wrapped his arms around his fathers neck. “What did you do while you were away!”

“I missed my family.” His father said, picking up his son and throwing him in the air. “You must have grown since I last saw you! You’re heavy.” He laughed.

“I have grown from eating so much.” Peter said.

“And who is your young friend?” His father asked as he looked at me.

“Aeria.” He said, “She is staying here during our break.”

“Why?” He asked, mostly directed at me.

“Otherwise I have to stay at the school.” I said.

“You don’t have a family?” He asked me. I shook my head. He just nodded and set Peter down on the floor. “Well, have a wonderful time staying here. I am sure everyone has been more than accommodating?”

“Yes, your majesty.” I said.

He just nodded again, “Now, I heard that someone tried to kill you.” His father said.

“Yes. The assassin is dead though.” Peter said.

“But not the man who hired him.” His father said, “You’ve been guarded all the time?”

“Yes.” Peter said.

“Where is the guard?” His father asked.

“It’s me.” I said. His mother had decided that Peter was safe enough with me. She believed that Peter was safe on his own, but she decided that he should be double safe with me. She didn’t wish to put a guard with him, as that would only identify him as the target.

“Did your mother choose her?” His father asked. Peter nodded. “Well, you can call me Josef. I assume you’ve already met the rest of the family, if you’re guarding my son?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Well, I suppose I will see the two of you at dinner then.” He told us before leaving. His steps sounded like thunder as he walked through the halls.

“He stomps to my sisters room whenever he returns so that she hears him coming.” Peter said. He must have been doing that since Isabel was a babe.

“Francis sent a letter and said that my father died.” I said. I didn’t feel sad about it either. The only difference between Francis and I was that I didn’t feel bad for not grieving for my father.

“Are you sad about it?” He asked as he pulled the book from under his pillow.

“No.” I said. “I will be sad if Thea dies.”

We sat in silence while we examined the book. We had gotten to looking though most people belongings when it came to people we didn’t trust but we didn’t find anything. The only thing we found was that none of them could have possibly afforded to pay for one assassin, let alone as man as had been sent at this point.

This meant that there were only two people left that we suspected in the castle. One was Ronald, which Peter didn’t like, and the other was a man that I had never met. I personally didn’t think that the man I hadn’t met, who was in charge of the men who guarded the castle, was a true suspect. Peter said the man didn’t like him and that he didn’t like the man. Peter didn’t want to believe that his uncle was trying to kill him.

I didn’t want to believe such a thing either, but someone was trying to kill Peter and these were the only people we had so far. Peter didn’t think we could even search through his uncles things since the man never even left his room unless it was dinner time. This meant distracting him would be challenging.

“Can we take a break?” Peter asked. “I want to ride the horses and train a little bit.”

“Yeah. Should we invite Isael and Arabella too?” I asked.

“No. I just want to ride with you today.” He said.

With that we headed to the stables to ride our horses. We took our horses from the school the day break started and brought them to the castle stable. We intended on riding them every day like we did during school.

The stable was silent when we entered it. The only sign of a person was a shadow that quickly went across the stable. Nobody was in the stable to claim the shadow though, so we assumed that whomever it was had decided to leave.

The horses were happy enough to see us. They greeted us the same way every morning. I sometimes wished that I could keep the horse with me like a dog, but I knew that was impractical. Plus, a horse didn’t really belong inside of a castle or a school. It was probably best that they stayed inside the stable.

“Maybe we’ve been looking at this wrong.” Peter said once we saddled up the horses and mounted. “Maybe it isn’t someone inside the castle like we thought-“

“Then how would they know the secret entrances?” I asked. “That would mean that someone outside the castle knows how to enter whenever they want without security.”

“Shit. You’re right.” He said, sighing. “I don’t want to accuse my uncle.”

“We’re not accusing him until we have evidence.” I said. “Once everyone finds out, they’ll want to blame someone and it’ll be whoever’s name comes up first.”

“Fine.”

The words were hardly out of his mouth when Peters horse bucked him off.

“Shooter!” Moonlight screamed. I saw that she had an arrow sticking out of her chest. “She’s in the rafters!”

“Protect yourself,” I whispered to Peter. He blinked a few times, still in shock from falling off the horse. Hopefully the horses would protect him too.

I climbed onto my horse and used him as a way to climb up to the rafters. I could see the person aiming an arrow at my head as I poked up to the rafters. I dropped myself to the ground, immediately regretting my decision as I landed in a pile of horse shit. It broke my fall, but I didn’t quite like the fact that I was covered in shit now.

The archer stuck their head through the hole that led to the rafters and aimed another arrow at my head. I rolled to the side, just in time to dodge the archer and her arrow falling to the ground. I frowned, trying to figure out what happened, but there wasn’t enough time because the archer jumped to her feet.

She pulled a knife from her arm and lunged at me. Peter had thrown a knife at her and she had lost her balance and fallen. I had never been so glad that Peter was with me. I kicked the knife from the archers hand and jumped to the floor to try and grab the knife.

Unfortunately, the woman got to the knife first and kicked me in the face to get me back. I could feel my nose snap and the blood trickle down my face. My nose was most definitely broken.

“Remove her silence ring.” I told him.

“Doing it now.” Peter said.

The woman dropped to the ground, dropping her knife as well, and held onto her wrist. I grabbed the knife and kicked her over. The silence spell had been burned off of her wrist. She tried to kick me to get me away from her, but Peter had jumped out of the stable and helped me pin her down.

“Who are you?” I asked her, holding the knife dangerously close to her face.

“I’m just a mercenary.” The woman said as I moved the knife closer to her face. “I’ll tell you what you want, just please don’t hurt me.”

“Who are you working for?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know. I met the man once and he said that his name was Anket- but I don’t think that’s his real name.” She said, “I just do the dirty work for whoever pays me and I’ve already got the payment for this-“

“What did he look like?” I asked.

“Will you let me go if I tell you?” She asked. I didn’t like the idea of just setting her free, but she probably wasn’t going to finish the job. She had already gotten the money and mercenaries only did the dirty work for the money.

“He’s got long hair in a ponytail and he wears gaudy jewelry.” The woman said. “He was wearing an expensive looking robe- it made him look like a mage- and it matched with his earrings.”

That sounded exactly like Ronald to me. “Were they red earrings that looked like water droplets?” I asked.

“Yes. They looked like ruby.” She said.

“You’d best leave the city.” I told her as Peter and I let her go. She nodded and scampered out of the stable. Once she left Peter got up to help his horse. Moonlight was alright after comforting her for a few minutes, but neither horse wanted to go on a ride at the moment.

The only problem left to fix was my broken nose. I could tell it had swollen already, even though it had only been a few minutes since the initial kick. Blood pounded through my nose, making my head ache as Peter spoke with Moonlight. The blood had mostly dried and stopped trickling from my nose, so I hoped that it hadn’t gotten on my clothes.

“You attract injuries.” Peter said once he had finished talking with Moonlight. “Hold still, I’ll set your nose.”

Peter gently grabbed my nose and pushed it back into place with one hand while holding my hand with the other. I squeezed his hand so hard, trying not to cry from the pain, that I thought that I had broken his hand. Healing my nose was like being kicked in the face all over again, except it lasted a longer time. Healing was the worst part of getting injured.

“There. Your nose is fixed.” He said. He spit on his sleeve and wiped the blood and tears from my face. I hadn’t even realized that I cried until I saw the sleeve of his shirt. It was soaked with my tears.

“If someone else hurts me, I think I’ll kill them.” I said. It was surprising to me that being stabbed hurt as much as my nose being broken. Or maybe it didn’t, I couldn’t tell because they were different types of pain. Either way, I hoped that I wouldn’t be stabbed or kicked again.

“Well, I’m doing the talking next time anyways.” He said as we walked back over to the horses. Moonlight had been healed, but we wanted to make sure neither of them had been spooked too much.

We sat in the stable with them for a few minutes longer to talk with them. They told us the gossip that they had heard in the stables since yesterday and informed us that there was a pregnant stray dog that had been hanging around the stable.

It wasn’t until the lunch bell that we returned to the castle. We didn’t know what to do with the information about Ronald. We weren’t sure how to go about accusing him of being treasonous. We could tell Eliza now, but we would only have the word of mercenaries. We needed solid proof to make sure he was punished.

I didn’t know how to prove that Ronald was the man trying to kill Peter. Unless there was solid proof in his room, which we couldn’t get to, the only way to prove his plot was to lure him out. He would have to decide it was time for him to kill Peter himself, since the Mercenaries had failed thus far.

“I don’t think he’ll do it- if it is uncle, he’s hiring people for a reason.” Peter said as we headed back inside the castle.

“Then taunt him.” I said. The best way to get people to lash out in the ways you pleased was to tease them. Peter could flaunt in his face that he was still living. The assassination attempts were becoming more, so it seemed as if Ronald wished to get rid of him soon. The question was why.

“Should we hint that we know?” Peter asked. I wasn’t sure. Maybe this wasn’t something that we could do alone. Neither of us could fight, so the only thing saving us was our magic. The problem was that Ronald had stronger magic. Ronald was the kingdom mage, he had to know different spells than us.

“Should we say at dinner that there was another assassin attempt?” I asked. Neither of us were sure of what to do. “Or should we not even mention it?”

“I don’t think we should mention it. Mother cannot take another scare like that.” He said. He would likely be surrounded by guards at all times if his mother found out. That would ruin our plans.

“You’re right.” I sighed. I was in the dark about what to do, as was Peter. I knew just as well as Peter that we didn’t want to let someone know. Arabella was enough. She had seen the man I killed and that was already too far.

We walked to the dining hall for lunch. Lord Tarek and his family were still staying in the castle. This was their last day. They would be leaving shortly after lunch. Askeal seemed sad to leave, but the rest of her siblings were exited enough. I could tell because their dreadful voices rose above everybody else in the dining hall.

Once we all sat down at the dining table, all the seats were filled. The king and the queen sat across from us. Earlier, Peter told me that every time his father returned that he gave a toast. I hoped that the toast wouldn’t be too long, as I was hungry today.

“You’ve got blood on your face.” Arabella said when she and Isabel joined us at the table. “And under your eyes looks bruised.”

“Shit,” I muttered. Sometimes healing bones left bruises on the surrounding area. “It’s always something isn’t it.” I said.

“What did you two get into?-“ She was cut off by Josef rising from his seat. I shrugged and turned to watch Josef.

Josef was dressed in rich colors, demanding everyone in the rooms attention purely from the way that he stood, “Today is my first day back. Already there have been many surprises- the biggest one being that I may have lost my son while I was away. The second being that my daughter and future daughter are now engaged. They have chosen the date for the wedding, and I am glad that my son did not perish before he could see the day. I am glad that we are all healthy enough to see the day. Many other countries have fallen victim to disease or hunger in these last few months…”

His toast went on for quite a while longer, however both Peter and I zoned out. I was focused on trying to locate the blood on my face and wipe it off. Peter seemed to be looking around the room. He surveyed every exit and every place the dining room could be seen from the second story.

“And in a number of years, my son will be getting married too! The years that lay ahead look prosperous and fertile.” Josef finished, sitting down. Everyone at the table raised their fists and cheered.

Drinks were served shortly after. I took note on the servants serving food today, as I had gotten into the habit of since Peter had nearly been poisoned. Peter did the same. He looked around the room as if he was expecting armed men to drop from the ceilings and slaughter us all. Paranoia had taken hold of Peter. He couldn’t so much as sleep without me in the same room anymore without fear of being killed in his sleep.

I wished to get rid of Ronald so that the whole affair could be forgotten, but I still wasn’t entirely sure it was Ronald. I didn’t intend on killing an innocent man, especially if that meant that the guilty man ran free. The whole ordeal was nerve wracking, especially since I couldn’t make a move unless Ronald made one first.

Lunch was cut short. Another guest arrived when we were halfway through our meal. Most of the meals at the castle didn’t concist of eating, mostly they were just socializing. I could tell that Peter enjoyed it more than I did, especially since his father was home.

The guests that arrived marked the departure of the Tarek family. They said goodbye and I was happy to see them go, as was everyone else. They were nice people, but the wife and her children had terrible voices. Hopefully the next time they had a visit, I could find an excuse not to be at the castle.

“I hope that you had a safe journey.” Eliza said to the guests.

“We did, your majesty.” The man said, bowing his head. “You look just as beautiful as the last time we visited.” The man added. His family agreed with him.

“I should hope the same goes for me.” Josef laughed. “It is good to see you Lord Ofrey. I hear there has been issues with clean water in your city.”

“Yes. The flood has polluted the river with feces and corpses.” He said. That sounded atrocious. “The wine maker has benefitted.” The man joked.

“Wine makers always benefit in the face of disaster.” Josef said. The man laughed. “The children can have the room in the hall with Peter and Aeria until the guest hall has been properly cleaned.” He told the man.

The family only had three children, which Peter and I lead to our hall. It was a silent walk, as the older children were not talkative. They stood up straight and followed directions. I imagined that they were not nearly as outspoken as the Tarek family children.

“Have you already been married?” The eldest of the children asked, “Mother and father say that is the reason that I have been brought to the castle. They wish to find me a suitable wife.”

“Me too.” The other two agreed. They looked identical to one another.

“I have not been wed.” Peter said. “I am not old enough to be married.”

“How old are you?” The oldest asked.

“14.” He said.

“I am 15.” The eldest said. “Mother says it is time that I find a wife and bring her home with me.”

“How old are you two?” I asked the identical children.

“14.” They said. They seemed too young to be married off. Even my eldest sister hadn’t been married off and she was 16. Maybe things were different further out in the country. I knew children as young as 11 were married off in the small towns of Drotak.

“Will you be here until the midsummer festival?” Peter asked. They all nodded. “Maybe you can find partners there.” He told them.

We led them to their rooms and returned to ours. Peter sat down on his bed and looked around before relaxing. He wasn’t even comfortable in the room he was raised in. Maybe it would be best if we faced Ronald before Peter became too paranoid.

“They’re getting married so young.” Peter said. He closed his eyes and rested his hands in his lap. “Mother expects me to be married by the time I am finished with school, but I don’t know.” He sighed.

“You are not next in line for throne. It matters more that Isabel gets married soon.” I said. “You will know when you find a wife.”

“How?” He asked.

“I don’t know. It’s something adults say.” I said. Lots of adults said it. Josef believed it and his wife cheated with the neighbor boy. Or maybe it was true, but some people were blinded by the beauty of a person and paid no attention to who they were.

“What if I don’t get married?” He asked.

“Then there will be no heir.” I said. Peter was expected to get married and have a child. I was suddenly very glad that I was not a princess anymore. I had freedom to do what I wished with my life.

“Then I will marry you.” He said.

He leaned his head back against the wall and smiled. This was the first time in a while he had forgotten about our problems with the assassins and Ronald. This would probably be the only time until Ronald was killed that he would forget his problems.