The Prince of Nixabar

“Gerald of the Mountain,” the herald announced.

On the carpet before them, on his knees, was a large brute of a man with red hair covering every inch of his face save his eyes and nose. He was dressed in furs and leather. His beard had small braids in it. His hat, he twisted nervously in his hands.

“Accused of illegal gambling in the streets of the market. Allegedly with stolen bets and three other convicted criminals.”

Lex rested his elbow on the armrest of his father’s throne. He wondered when they would present him with something more important. The whole morning they’ve brought in nothing more than petty thieves and supposed treasonous civilians who gossiped about the monarchs in the market.

“Bring in the rest. Let’s hear what they have to say,” he said.

The herald lowered his scroll. “They haven’t been caught. There were only two guards on the scene, and it took both of them to bring in this man.”

Lex rolled his eyes. “Did they ask the other three to follow, or did they just leave them there?”

The herald stared at Lex with a frown.

The adviser, Jonas, tapped Lex on the shoulder. “Now’s not the time, Your Highness. First you need to give out this man’s sentence and then deal with the others.”

“That’s not a fair trial, is it?” Lex asked and sat more upright in the throne. “To first dish out a punishment and then ask for witnesses. I need to know if the other three ran away, Jonas. If they ran, they were definitely up to something. If they simply weren’t asked to come... Well, then it’s the guards who are at fault. And what’s all this about the alleged stolen bets? Do you know the name, Of the Mountain? It’s one of the wealthiest families in the kingdom. Why would he want to steal bets if he has more money than he could ever want?” He looked at Gerald, who tried his hardest to suppress a grin under his beard. “Tell me, what were you doing? And what were you betting? Where did the guards find you?”

Gerald’s dark eyes looked up to meet Lex’s. “We was playin’ wit’ dice on me pal’s porch. We didn’ know there was laws against playin’ games in yer own home.”

Jonas looked down at the man. “Gambling of any kind-“

“Be quiet,” Lex hissed. “This is a trial, not an argument. Let him finish his story first.”

“We wasn’t bettin’ money. Jus’ things that we can live without. Some jewellery, some nice clothes. One of ‘em bet his undergarments. T’was all jus’ fer fun. The guards been watching us fer several minutes. We thought they must be on break if they could afford ta just stand there and stare at us instead of patrollin’ the city as they should. Then, one of ‘em idiots won a game with loaded dice. We had an argument and then the guards came an’ broke us up. Then they started askin’ where we got the jewellery. I told ‘em t’was our own, so they arrested me. They didn’ ask the others ta come.”

Lex could feel what was left of his spirit deflating. “You’re allowed to play dice games in your own home, but gambling is illegal. If you’d done it inside the house, away from the public eye, it would have been different. We have no proof that the bets were stolen and unless someone reports stolen jewellery, we’re not going to look into it. We have more important things to worry about. Gerald, you’re to pay a fine for the gambling and so are your friends. Tell them when you see them. And for the coin, you’ll spend the night in the cells, and return it.”

Gerald’s face went pale. The other people in the room had no idea what Lex was talking about until Gerald pulled a branded coin out of his pocket. It was silver, with a circle of gold in the middle. Stamped with the signatures of the rulers of each kingdom on the island. It was used to trade between kingdoms and was useless to the commoners. It was hard to put a monetary value to the coins. There were only one hundred in circulation and Nixabar never had more than twenty at a time. One coin was worth one shipment. Gerald having one put Nixabar in a bad position.

Gerald handed the coin to the guard beside him, who brought it to Lex. They took Gerald away. As he was dragged off, he shot Lex a very dirty look. He could look all he wanted, two could play at his game. Lex flicked the coin in the air right as the doors shut behind the big man.

“How did you know he had that?” Jonas asked.

“It fell out of his pocket when he kneeled, didn’t you see?”

Jonas pursed his lips. “Of course I did, I thought the coin was his own.”

Liar. Nothing fell out of Gerald’s pocket. Lex knew about the coin because he lost it to Gerald after a rigged bet. The fact that the guards didn’t see the coin was very troubling. They didn’t search him for weapons properly. How many prisoners in the cells still had small daggers and chains on them?

Jonas seemed to have the same idea. He ordered all the guards to strip the prisoners of their clothes and search every pocket.

“You’re not going to ask where he got it?” Jonas asked. “If there’s a breach in the treasury-“

“I know where he got it,” Lex cut him off. “Some idiot gave it to him for the tin.”

“Tin?”

“He owns the tin mines. Do you really not know his name? My father complains about him being so close to Beresford almost daily. Don’t you pay attention?”

Jonas rolled his eyes. The King complained about everything all the time, it was difficult to keep up. Lex knew that better than anybody.

“Who’s next?” Lex leaned against the armrest of the throne. He rested his chin on his palm and stared at the doors, hoping that the next person would be worth his time.

“That’s everybody. We’re done for the day.”

Lex’s hand dropped. How could that be everybody? “What of the Finlensians?”

“Your father wants to take care of them himself when he gets back.”

He should have seen that coming. “Well, if that’s it for the day, there’s no need for me to keep sitting here.” He stood up from the throne. “You know where to find me, if you need me.”

“There is one more thing, Your Highness.” The herald approached him with a letter. “A raven dropped this during the morning. We handed it to the Queen, and she said it was addressed to you.”

Lex took the letter from the old man. It was addressed to him. It had his name written on it in big, bold letters. Why give it to the Queen? They got the letter in the morning and only now decided to give it to him. They’ve had hours.

He took the letter with him to his room and dropped it on the desk by the window.

He took off the heavy crown from his head and pulled off the furry cape that he was required to wear in the throne room. He felt ridiculous with it on. Fur on the back, and black as pitch on the inside. He hated it. It was hot and heavy, and dragged behind him when he walked and pulled at his neck. He pulled on a lighter, black wool cloak and secured it at his neck with a gold pin his grandfather gave him as a baby. He pulled the hood over his head and sat down at the desk. As he sat, he noticed some white spots at the end of his cloak. He pulled it up to take a look. Snowflakes. His mother liked to embroider things. It was probably her work.

The letter was addressed to him, but clearly it was meant to land in the hands of the King. The people of Beresford spoke of trespassers in the woods. They’ve been discovered, and asked for security in the woods to stop more people from seeing them. Beresford was hidden because the people were… different from everyone else. If the commoners were to find them, they would surely try to burn the place to the ground and expect to be knighted for their bravery.

The letter was addressed to Lex only because it was the fastest way to contact the King. Lex read his letters the second it was handed to him, Vane left them until his work was done. But with the speed of his messengers, they might as well have addressed it to Vane.

Lex folded the letter and put it in his pocket. He would need to send some knights to patrol the woods. City guards wouldn’t stand a chance against those brutes. He would need to figure out a way to position the knights in such a way that they wouldn’t discover Beresford. But how? Their closest men knew of the hidden village, maybe he could have them leading the operations.

It was dark by the time he came up with a solution good enough to take immediate action. There wasn’t enough time to come up with anything better. They would need to rearrange some people as problems arose and better ideas were made. He got up from the table with his plan and made his way out the door. He wanted to head over to the war room to discuss with a few of the knights he had planned to send out, but the sound of commotion downstairs sent him back into his bedroom.

He sheathed a sword and opened a drawer to reveal over forty shiny daggers. He put one in each boot and went out the door again. He wasn’t expecting anyone, but the castle guards seemed to be relaxed with the noise. He called forward the closest one and asked what was going on.

“The King has returned, Your Highness, and he’s brought the Prince Cyrus with him.”

That would explain the noise. Cyrus knew better than to wander around the island without at least a hundred of his guards trailing after. He was more careful like that. So unlike these fools from Nixabar who relied on stealth more than anything.

He walked over to the dining hall. As he passed windows, he glanced outside. There must’ve been at least two thousand men in the yard. They were setting up tents and building fire pits. The dining hall was even more cramped. The main table was moved against a wall, and the entire space has been filled with many smaller tables and benches. Each table hosted more knights than it could hold. All of them half drunk or completely hammered. The servants scurried around with plates of food and drink while the knights celebrated a victory Lex knew nothing of.

Not a single soul took notice of him as he glided against the wall towards the main table. A stray cup flew across the room and shattered right behind him. Mead dripped onto the floor, and a servant rushed to pick up the pieces before anyone could hurt themselves with it. Only when Lex arrived at the table, did anyone notice him.

“Cousin!” Prince Cyrus shot up and staggered over towards him. He swung his arms around Lex and hugged him tighter than necessary. The smell of alcohol was heavy on his breath.

“Nice to see you, Cyrus,” Lex pat him on the back. “Father, we didn’t get a letter of your return.”

King Vane gestured around him. “I sent one. The servants knew we were arriving.”

Lex pushed Cyrus back into his seat and sat down beside him. He fished for the letter in his pocket and handed it to his father. “This was meant for you. Since I didn’t know you were coming, I laid out some plans. I have it here-“ He hardly managed to unfold his map when Vane handed the letter to the nearest knight and told him to do something about it.

“I’m sure your men would rather sleep in the woods than my yard.” And that was the end of it. Abashed, Lex put the map back in his pocket. He felt his ears burn with anger but decided not to say anything.

Vane’s eyes trailed over to Cyrus. “So, what say you?”

Cyrus frowned and closed his eyes. “Vane, I can’t be discussing these things right now. I said I need time to think about it. It’s a huge risk, for me and you.” He called one of the servants closer and asked for a glass of water. “And what about Belle?”

“She’s young, I doubt it will make any difference to her,” Vane answered. “Young enough not to care, old enough to understand.”

“And what about the gods? They’re young enough to understand and old enough not to care. We need to keep by their rules unless we’re asking for a flood that will wash our island off the map.”

Before Lex could ask what they were discussing, the noise of the hall died down and all the knights stood up to bow. The Queen came gliding in with her dress pulling behind her. Her blonde hair was done up, and her crown was still on top of her head. So were Cyrus’ and Vane’s. It only then occurred to Lex that he was the only monarch in the room who wasn’t dressed for the occasion.

His mother sat down next to Vane and smiled sweetly at Cyrus. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Ellah,” Cyrus smiled back. “You get more beautiful every time I see you. Don’t you want to leave this sour puss and move to Castorwyn with me?”

Ellah laughed at the suggestion. Vane took a throwing dagger out of a sheathe and fiddled with it.

The servant came back with Cyrus’ water and started to pack food onto the table. Mashed potatoes, beans, pumpkins, goose, and pies. And a pitcher of mead and another of wine.

Cyrus hardly hesitated to grab the mashed potatoes before they could pour gravy all over it. “So, I was wondering, what are you going to do with all the prisoners? You can’t keep them all in the cells. It’s too dangerous.”

Vane pulled the goose closer and cut off a piece for Ellah and then for himself. The servant came back with two gravy boats and put them both down on the table. The one was filled with brown gravy, the other white. Cyrus glanced at them both, sure that the brown one was beef gravy. But the brown one was onion, and the white one goose. He inspected the onion gravy from every angle before deciding to put it down instead.

Vane answered as though he didn’t notice. “I think I should give them the death sentence. We can’t have them taking advantage of us because they think they’re safe. We can’t let them go and we can’t have them serve long sentences at the rate the cells are filling up. But I’m not sure yet. I can’t execute the new ones if there are dozens more who have been living here safely for decades. I’ll sleep on it. What do you think?”

Lex’s sister, Juniper, also appeared wordlessly and unnoticed. She took her seat across from the Queen, greeted Cyrus and helped herself with the food. She wore a thick pin in her hair, poison-filled, most likely. While Vane and Cyrus spoke, she leaned over to Lex. “I let the gambler go. There’s no room in the cells for petty crimes right now.”

Lex wanted to tell her that it was only for the night, but there was something about her tone that made him keep his words to himself. She thought she was thinking for him, doing his job, but really, she was just bugging him. She had her own work to worry about.

Lex finished his dinner and left the hall. His map was burning him. He didn’t feel like waiting for the drunken knights to pass out. As he passed the windows, he noticed that more than half the men who were supposed to sleep in the yard had gone. They would be sleeping in the woods instead. He sighed and continued up the stairs.

Jonas was at the top, walking down the hall with a letter in his hand.

“I thought you’d be home by now,” Lex told him.

“And miss the King’s welcome party? I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Lex knew the man better than that. He hated alcohol, and Castorwyn was known for wine.

Jonas showed him the letter. “I was just writing something for a friend. Hope your father doesn’t mind that I used his stamp. I wasn’t aware of his return, and this was rather urgent. He’s gotten himself into a real mess at the border.”

“You shouldn’t use our stamp without asking.”

“I didn’t forge His Majesty’s signature, nor did I use his seal. It was the house stamp; I hardly think it will work but it’s all I have at the moment.”

“If he’s stuck at the border, Prince Cyrus is here too-“

“Sober?”

Lex glanced at the floor. He knew very well that he wouldn’t win an argument with Jonas. He was his father’s best friend. It was why he got the job. Before Jonas there was a man named Harold. He’d been the royal adviser since before Lex was born. Four years ago, he was caught stealing and had to be let go. Then Vane brought in Jonas as a temporary solution, and he never left. Jonas could do as he pleased, and Lex could do nothing about it.

Jonas tapped the letter in his hand. “I was wondering, has your father said what his plans are with the Finlensians in the cells? I’m afraid they’re at capacity. Putting in four at a time could prove dangerous. The guards can keep two at bay as they let a third one in, but they can’t fight three while holding onto a fourth, see? I was thinking we retire some old boats, and-“

“He’s thinking of giving them the death sentence but for now it’s just a suggestion,” Lex interrupted. “Not that there’s any other choice. We can’t exactly let them go while they’re rallying up for war.”

Jonas nodded absentmindedly. “I’m afraid the people won’t like that. We don’t want them turning against us. There are so many people who married and are friends with Finlensians. How about we bring the death sentence back only for the violent ones? That will put them more at ease.”

Lex ignored the man’s comment. He went into his room and locked the door behind him. Nobody in his family were dim-witted. It went without saying that their own people need not worry about the death sentence.