Dreamer's Throne

The following morning, Princess Eloise worked with Garret to compose a letter for Duke Arkov, informing him of her presence in the city. Despite his initial rejection of the idea, Baron Gelavin had come around, presumably after speaking with Victor Klein. Garret had no idea what their conversation entailed, but he assumed it was rife with plots and schemes. Both men clearly had power on their minds and would likely stop at nothing to achieve their goals. They both considered Garret to be on their side, or at least a tool to be used and discarded. This suited Garret just fine, as he planned to do the same, only in reverse.

The more he pondered the problem, the more convinced he became that the princess should be the one to ascend the throne. Despite his twisted childhood, it had not extinguished the spark of patriotism in young Garret Klein's heart. Although he was now quite distanced from the feeling, he recognized the wisdom in allowing the rightful heir to the throne to take her place. Moreover, it would be much easier to deal with the princess than either of the other two men, should the situation turn sour.

Garret didn't even consider the possibility that Duke Arkov would remain as regent. After all, as soon as the princess appeared, he had only two options. First, support her claim to the throne. This would be the wiser choice, even if he had designs on the throne himself, as her rightful claim superseded his. It would be much easier to manipulate and control her as a figurehead than to take the second path. That didn't mean, of course, that the second path was off the table. Many would-be rulers had ruthlessly eliminated their kin to seize power for themselves. After all, that was the direction the story seemed to have taken so far.

But Garret had begun to doubt this narrative. There had been too many small inconsistencies for him to believe that Duke Arkov had masterminded the attack. In Garret's mind, it was more likely that the nobles had orchestrated it, and Duke Arkov's survival had either been a step in the nobles' power play or simply a mistake. He had never met the Duke, though he had seen him plenty of times in the palace, and he had a faint feeling that he would meet him soon enough, especially if he assisted the princess in her bid for the throne.

After the letter was delivered, the response was immediate and overwhelming. Heavily armored troops marched out of the palace, their purple and gold pennants flying, their black armor gleaming in the sunlight. They projected a fearsome air as they moved swiftly through the streets, causing an uproar in the city. It was rare for the royal guard to leave the palace, so the sight of nearly a hundred of them charging towards the city's northern district caused rampant speculation. The city guard had been alerted and did their best to clear people out of the way. By the time the Royal Guard unit crossed the lower bridge, crowds had begun to gather along the street, as if an impromptu parade was taking place.

Garret received word as soon as the Royal Guard entered the northern district. Looking up from his breakfast, he addressed the princess, "Your Highness, it appears that the Royal Guard has been dispatched to pick you up."

Taking a deep breath, Princess Eloise put down her fork and nodded, her eyes bright.

"Then I’d better go get ready," she said.

Watching as she pushed herself back from the table and headed upstairs to her room, Garret thought for a moment and then called over Coleridge.

"What do you need, boss?"

"You and your men have the bearing of soldiers. The princess needs an escort into the palace, and more importantly, someone to guard her while she's there. I'd like to hire you to protect her."

"You don't need to hire us, boss," Coleridge said. "We're happy to do it for free."

Like many in the city, Coleridge and his men still maintained their loyalty to the throne and the royal family who had been brutally murdered.

"Protecting her is our duty."

"Good," Garrett said, and then turned his attention to the princess's personal guard. “Morris.”

“What do you need?" Morris asked, his expression disgruntled.

Even though the princess's personal guard clearly didn't like him very much, Garrett didn't take it to heart. When Morris had arrived, he had clearly expected to be some sort of main character, protecting the princess and winning her favor. Instead, he had been relegated to almost uselessness, as Garrett and his awakened subordinates had taken care of everything.

"I'd like to assign Coleridge and his unit under your command. You are the princess's personal guard, and so I think it's important that you have control of the environment. However, the palace is big, and it's going to be hard to cover everything by yourself. Until the princess becomes queen and the royal guard take over, feel free to use Coleridge and his men as you see fit."

The suggestion caught Morris off guard, and when he looked over at Coleridge and saw the man's professional salute, he found himself lost for words. After almost a minute of looking back and forth between Coleridge and Garrett, he finally nodded.

"Thank you. That would actually be really helpful."

The royal guard finally arrived half an hour later, spreading out to surround the inn's yard as a group of five royal guard officers walked into the inn's great room. There they found Princess Eloise waiting for them, sitting at a table across from Garrett. As soon as they pushed open the door, almost everybody in the room stood up. Coleridge and Morris had moved to behind the princess, clearly guarding her, while Coleridge's men had spread out throughout the room.

The royal guardsman at the front of the group slowly scanned the room and then removed his helmet, holding it under his arm as he bowed to the princess.

"Princess Eloise, it is wonderful to see that you are safe. I'm Captain Connor of the Royal Guard, and I've been dispatched by the regent, Duke Arkov, to escort you to the palace."

Thanks to the dream flower that had taken root in her, Garrett could sense the princess's nervousness, but she handled the situation with a magnificent outward calm as she stood up, holding her skirt with one hand, and nodded.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Hello, Captain Connor. Thank you for such a speedy response. I admit I hadn't expected anything like this, but it's nice to know that I'm welcome at the palace."

"Of course, Your Highness, it is our honor to serve."

The Royal Guard were nothing if not efficient, and it didn't take long for them to pick up all of the princess's luggage and get back on the road. The only slight snag was when they saw all of Coleridge's men beginning to move out with them. When Captain Connor asked what was going on, Morris stepped in and explained that the mercenary captain and his unit were the princess's personal guard.

Looking over the rough members of the Cleaver's Edge mercenary group, Captain Connor's eyes narrowed.

"That will not be necessary," he said. "The Royal Guard have the princess's safety well in hand."

"Captain Connor," hearing Princess Eloise's voice, the Royal Guard captain winced as if he knew exactly what was going to come next. "These men and women are here for my safety, just like you. I don't think I need to remind you that up until this point, the Royal Guard's protection has been entirely insufficient, so I don't think that I can be blamed for wanting a little bit more. Additionally, it isn't your place to tell me who I can and cannot bring into the palace, so until I order otherwise, they will be coming with us."

To his credit, Captain Connor quickly stabilized himself and bowed to the princess.

"Of course, your highness, forgive my impertinence for suggesting anything else."

"You're forgiven."

Garrett sat in the door of the inn, watching as the group made their way down the street, much slower than they had arrived, as they escorted the princess's carriage. Ryn leaned against the door jamb behind him, remaining silent until they were out of sight. Once he couldn't see them anymore, Garrett retired to his office, where he sat behind his desk and closed his eyes.

"Somnia, will I be able to track the princess into the palace from where I am?”

“No, my lord. The distance is too far. My effective reach covers the northern district, but not much beyond."

Garrett thought for a moment, then called for Ryn.

"Get the carriage set up," he ordered.

"Where are we going?" Ryn asked.

"We're going to trail them to the palace," Garrett replied, "just to make sure they actually get there safely."

It only took a few minutes before the carriage was pulled around. Ryn helped Garrett into it. At her command, the driver took it slow, maintaining enough distance between them and the formation escorting the princess back to the palace that they couldn't actually see each other. This was still close enough for Garrett, however, and he sat in the carriage, his eyes closed, as he observed through the flowers carried by the princess and Coleridge and his men.

Given how actively the dream flowers propagated, it was practically impossible for anybody to live in the inn for any length of time without picking up a flower or two themselves. Even Morris had a dream flower blooming inside of him. Garrett couldn't directly observe the dream during the day, but he was still able to pick up bits of information from the dream flowers. As they slowly made their way through the city, following the procession, he began to get a picture of what was going on.

The princess sat in the royal carriage, its top open to the public, and gently waved to the people lining the streets. Seeing her riding in the open caused quite an uproar, and more and more citizens rushed to the street to try and catch a glimpse of her. The imposing royal guard cleared the way, ensuring that nobody stepped out in front of the carriage, and forming two thick lines on either side of her. The Cleaver's Edge mercenaries brought up the rear, marching as best they could, even as their eyes scanned the crowds, looking for anyone who might want to harm the princess.

Whenever the royal carriage would come into view, the crowd would begin to cheer and shout. To Garrett, it felt as if a pressure release valve had just popped open, and much of the invisible tension and fear that had been boiling up inside of the common folk over the last few months was getting an outlet. This continued all the way over the bridge and into the southern district. Here, the streets were nicer, the people calmer, but hundreds and thousands still gathered on the street corners to watch as the carriage rolled by.

Garrett and Ryn maintained a good distance, tracking slowly behind the royal procession until it finally arrived at the palace. They were about half a mile behind when Garrett opened his eyes and directed the driver to pull into one of the side streets and stop, out of sight of the palace gate.

"Let's hang out here for a moment," he said, closing his eyes once more.

Standing in front of the gate were a number of noblemen, their true thoughts hidden behind wide smiles. When the princess arrived at the front gate, it had already been opened, and the noblemen hurried to the side of the carriage to greet the princess.

"Your Highness, it is wonderful to see that you are safe," one of the old noblemen said, earning himself a soft nod from the princess. Seeing it, the other noblemen hesitated, and then quickly added their own praise and well wishes. They hadn't anticipated such an aloof response from the princess, and before they could recover, there was a loud trumpet blast, and the royal guard quickly formed up, joining with their companions who had stayed at the palace to protect it, as they formed two long lines flanking the road.

"We welcome the royal princess back to the palace," they shouted with all their might.

An answering cheer rose from the crowd that had followed the princess to the palace, and under the eyes of the citizens and the royal guard, Princess Eloise, followed by Morris, Coleridge, and the Cleaver's Edge mercenary group, entered the palace grounds.

A few blocks away, Garrett watched all of this happening, through his connection with the dream flowers. But his attention was elsewhere, on the massive building in front of them. Ryn, who didn't quite understand what it was they were waiting for, began to fidget, growing bored of just sitting quietly. After a few minutes, she reached for the handle of the carriage, and then paused, glancing at Garrett to see if he'd have any response. When he didn't move, she slipped out of the carriage, and made her way down the street, to watch from the corner.

When she found that the crowd was too thick, and she couldn't actually see what was going on, she rapidly scaled one of the nearby buildings, perching on the edge of the roof, with her legs dangling off. That gave her enough height to look into the palace's yard, where she saw the princess alighting from her carriage. A powerfully built man stood on the steps of the palace, and as the princess walked up to meet him, he gave her a big hug, and then escorted her into the palace.

Down below, Garrett was getting a more up-close-and-personal look at what was going on. Duke Arkov was just the same as he remembered, albeit with a bit more gray at his temples, and in his beard. A bear of a man, the Duke carried himself like a warrior, and if the stories were to be believed, he was a fearsome one. Tremendous mental energy shrouded his body, causing the dream flowers nearby to shiver, and retract their own auras, as if trying to hide. The Duke had a pair of piercing green eyes, and though his smile showed his teeth, it was more like a shark's than Garrett liked.

As soon as the princess stepped inside of the palace, Garrett felt a strange pressure disrupt his connection with the dream flower, and the images and sounds he was getting from it began to grow blurry, and garbled. Frowning, Garrett tried to strengthen his connection with the dream flower that the princess carried, and while he succeeded in improving his connection, it soon began to take a toll on his levels of energy, and when he relaxed, the images quickly went back to blurry.