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[Rough Draft] Chapter 49: The Duchess of Winter
In the end, eight mercenaries were left alive. The Bastiallano Knights quickly rounded and formed them in a straight line, on their knees, with their wrists bound together in a rope chain. Beaumont remained apart from the Royal Knights that remained in a tight circle around Nicholas. One look at the crown prince’s protection, and Carina felt her unease resurface. The knights from the palace no longer looked at her like a noble or a Duchess. Their gaze held an alien expression, not of resentment or disgust, but fear.
Lieutenant Silas returned the sword that Carina had dropped when her horse had thrown her. She accepted the weapon without a word and let it dangle by her side.
‘This isn’t me.’ A cold feeling of numbness washed over her as Carina stared down at the sword. It was the same feeling she had felt when Miranda had taken her last bloody breath before slipping into the welcoming arms of death. ‘I don’t belong here.’
‘Don’t doubt yourself now,” Kirsi murmured reproachfully. “You did what had to be done to fulfill both duty and desire. There is no shame in bringing down an enemy who would attack the weak and defenseless.”
Carina clenched her jaw as she stared across the field of dead men, most of them mercenaries killed by her knights. Three of Bastiallano’s knights had fallen in the fight, and two were injured but able to walk after being treated. She looked around for her horse and found the white animal lying in the grass on its side. The Duchess quickly turned towards the animal, concerned, but Silas caught her arm.
“It will need to be put down, your Grace,” the knight explained with a tinge of sympathy in his voice. “The burns are too severe—death is a kindness.”
The stallion raised its head weakly and then dropped it with a cry mingled with pain and exhaustion. Carina nodded slowly, but the arm holding her sword trembled.
“Allow me, your Grace.” Silas signaled to a nearby Bowman and took the knight’s weapon before wandering into the field towards the crying animal. Carina turned away just as the Lieutenant pulled back an arrow.
The frost-covered field crunched beneath her feet as the Duchess approached her knights. They turned towards her, expressions mixed between awe, uncertainty, and distrust.
‘So much for letting them get to know me before unveiling my secret.’ Carina turned as Silas’s footsteps followed behind her. The Lieutenant glanced from the Duchess to the knights and narrowed his eyes.
“Into formation,” he barked harshly.
The knights swiftly fell into rank, aside from four which stood on guard beside the captured mercenaries. Silas marched towards them and whispered something soft and low that caused all the knights to drop their gaze.
Carina sighed and stabbed the sword she held into the ground beside her.
‘There is nothing to be ashamed of, Carina.’ Viktor’s soothing voice wrapped around her like a cold blanket as Lumi appeared in all her towering glory behind the ice witch. The Scriva’s glass marble eyes bore into the line of knights, which had all frozen stiff at the sight of the elemental.
Even Silas looked paralyzed with fear as the Scriva opened its glittering fangs and snarled out a commanding growl.
“Lumi,” Carina called out reproachfully as she wrapped her arm around the scriva’s lowered snout and pulled the wolf’s face towards her. “It is fine.”
Lumi’s beautiful eyes blinked as they reflected the Duchess image. The scriva whined softly, then sighed as she laid down on the frozen grass beside the ice witch.
“Your Grace!” Silas’s hoarse voice turned Carina’s attention back to her knights as the Lieutenant bent slowly to one knee. “It is an honor to serve—the Duchess of Winter.”
Lumi’s ears pricked up with interest while Carina watched in growing confusion as the rank of knights behind Silas all dropped to a knee and echoed their Lieutenant’s words.
“I—don’t understand,” Carina murmured. “Lieutenant—”
“I suppose I failed to mention,” Kirsi whispered bemusedly in Carina’s mind. “That part of the Bastiallano Knight’s pledge is their oath to the descendants of Isbrand.”
Carina exhaled forcefully as the knights all bowed their heads. ‘Aren’t they taking it too far? Knights should only bend the knee to a King or Queen.’
“They recognize who you are, even if you do not acknowledge it yourself.”
Lumi rose up to her feet with a playful bark. The scriva’s tail wagged in approval beside Carina as she stepped forward and extended her hand to Silas. “Please rise, Lieutenant Silas. We are not done here.”
“Yes, your Grace.” Silas stood and bowed his head politely. “What are your orders?”
Carina turned towards the uneasy group of Royal Knights who surrounded Nicholas. Then her gaze turned to Beaumont, who was wiping off his sword with a torn piece of garment. The knight captain raised his violet eyes towards her as he rested his Dragon Blade against a shoulder and trudged back through the field of dead men towards the crown prince.
“For now,” the Duchess said quietly. “Send word back to the main group that the bridge is down. We will need to find another road back or begin building a bridge—depending on his Majesty’s orders.”
“I will send our fastest rider at once, your Grace.”
“Have him tell Lady Hana and Lady Ivy that I am alright and inform Captain Isaac that I wish him to remain with them until they arrive here.”
Silas nodded and turned to one of the knights in formation behind him.
Carina exhaled slowly as Beaumont pushed his way through the Royal Knights. The Knight Captain gave a quiet command that seemed to ease the uncertainty among his men as they slowly lowered their weapons.
“We could kill him now,” Kirsi murmured coldly. “End the Havardur line for good and take the throne in one fell swoop.”
‘I am not killing him,’ Carina returned firmly as she watched Nicholas emerge from the Royal Knights. The crown prince appeared to be in pain as he hugged his chest and leaned on Beaumont’s arm. Still, he walked determinedly towards the Duchess, who stepped forward hesitantly to greet him.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Nicholas raised his gaze from the frost-covered field and laughed—the sound cut short as he grimaced and groaned in pain. “You have—certainly erased all doubt—as to Frost’s identity.”
“Oh?” Carina cleared her throat and coughed awkwardly. “I-I did try to tell—”
The crown prince raised a hand sharply as he drew in a slow pained breath. “Please, Duchess. I am in enough agony as it is.”
“Of course. Shall I send some knights to acquire a carriage for you to rest in?”
Nicholas sighed weakly as he gazed around the field. The crown prince’s hazel-blue eyes widened in disbelief as he took in the great scriva that waited patiently beside Carina’s knights. “Th-that’s—a big wolf.”
“Lumi is my scriva, your Highness.”
The crown prince grimaced again as he rubbed his temple and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. “You realize—Lady Kirsi—that you have placed me in a rather precarious position.”
Carina blinked and glanced at Beaumont before replying simply, “Yes, your Majesty.”
“A lot of nobles saw your use of magic earlier.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“I am days away from my coronation, and now Lafeara’s newest Duchess has revealed herself as a witch—in public.”
The Duchess clenched her jaw silently as she waited for Nicholas to finish.
“I am grateful to you, Lady Kirsi,” Nicholas whispered somberly as he held out a hand towards Carina. “Your actions saved my life and many others today.”
‘That’s it?’ Carina blinked, then stepped forward as she took the crown prince’s hand and bowed. “I acted only out of concern for your Majesty.”
“You left one alive?” Nicholas queried as he nodded towards the Fire Witch trapped in the river.
“To interrogate!” Carina explained hastily. “To find out who directed the attack.”
“A wise decision,” the crown prince replied as he reached over to pat Beaumont’s chest. “Take me to the Duchess’s prisoner. I would ask him that question myself.”
“Your Majesty,” Beaumont replied gruffly with a quick glance to Carina. “You are in no—”
Enough, Captain!” Nicholas interjected, followed by a sharp hiss of pain as he touched his chest. “With you—and the Duchess beside me—who could harm me now?”
“Your Majesty, may I—” Carina held up a hand towards the crown prince’s chest.
Nicholas’s hazel-blue eyes narrowed for a moment before he smiled and nodded towards her.
With the greatest care, Carina spread her fingers across the crown prince’s chest and gently infused his robes and the surface of his skin with a light mist of cold magic. Nicholas shivered and blinked in surprise before letting out a soft, appreciative groan.
“Thank you, Duchess,” Nicholas whispered with a weak smile. “I may ask you to numb me further still for the journey back home.”
“If you wish it, your Majesty.”
Nicholas closed his eyes and nodded with a soft sigh. “That is enough for now. Let’s speak to this prisoner.”
***
The Fire Mage glared up at Carina as she led the Beaumont and Nicholas across the path of ice. The crown prince stopped once or twice to catch his breath before making his way forward determinedly, still leaning on Beaumont’s arm.
“So,” the crown prince growled as he eyed the witch, whose tanned features had gone a bit pale from his submerged prison. “Who sent you?”
The Fire Witch spat onto the ice before him. “Why would I bother talking to a dead man?”
Nicholas arched a brow and held back Beaumont as the knight captain took a step forward. “I believe you are confused. However, before my knight pricks your head like an olive, why don’t we try this again.”
The Fire Mage stared at Beaumont and then at the Dragon Blade the knight captain held in his free hand and laughed scornfully. “A Ventrayna Witch does not fear death! Only dishonor!”
“Are you saying the Emperor or Empress sent you?” Nicholas replied calmly as he arched a patient brow.
“I—” the Fire Mage’s eyes blinked rapidly before his overall expression went suddenly lax.
Carina frowned in confusion. A flutter of wings across the river drew her attention to three crows that swooped down over the river towards the three of them before rising to climb above the forest line as they soared back towards the caravan.
‘Were those—Percy’s crows?’
“Well?” Nicholas repeated impatiently. “Who sent you?”
Carina turned back to the Fire Witch’s who had gone from pale to sweating as the man clenched his teeth together.
“If you think by keeping silent that I will allow you to have an honorable death, then you are mistaken!” Nicholas snapped furiously.
The Fire Witch shuddered and raised his eyes to Carina as he uttered a single word in response. “Borghese.”
The Duchess blinked and laughed. ‘And there it is, the final nail in the coffin.’
Nicholas laughed as well. His bitter mirth disturbed by another grunt of pain as he turned his back to the witch.
“Your Majesty,” Carina quickly followed the crown prince, determined to make the most of this damning evidence. “We should—”
Before she could finish her argument, Beaumont grabbed them both and unceremoniously flung them towards the shore, where a line of Royal and Bastiallano knights caught them as an explosion detonated where the Fire Witch had been. Chunks of fried flesh and broken ice flung through the air as the blast knocked the crown prince, Duchess, and knights off their feet.
A shield protected Carina from the raining spray of crushed crimson ice. The Bastiallano knight beside her looked pale but composed as he waited for his comrades to rise and form a protective barrier around their Duchess.
Ears still ringing from the unexpected noise, Carina accepted an offered hand and rose to her feet. Just as the swaying earth fell firmly into place, the memory of Beaumont’s flying body sucked the air from her lungs as Carina shover her way through the knights, then gasped quickly in relief at the sight of Beaumont pushing himself up from the ground a few feet away.
“What the blood hells was that?” a Royal Knight demanded.
Carina turned and stiffened as she took in Nicholas’s unmoving form. “Your Majesty?”
The crown prince waved one hand weakly and then dropped it to his side.
“Your Majesty, are you alright?” as she moved swiftly towards him, only to have Beaumont brush past her as the knight captain knelt beside the winded prince.
“He is not in any grave danger,” Beaumont said with evident relief as the prince firmly grasped his hand.
Nicholas grimaced and nodded, then closed his eyes as he focused on taking in shallow breaths.
Carina exhaled weakly in relief, then straightened and gazed towards the river where her broken ice prison now floated away in small chunks. “He—exploded.”
“Fire Mage Assassins,” Beaumont replied grimly with a shake of his head. “When they take a job like this, they are often asked to perform a spell that will self-detonate when they name their employer.”
The Duchess’s eyes widened in comprehension even as she shivered at the thought. “So they either die from torture or name their employer and die while taking out their interrogator.”
“Either way, normally, the client’s name does not get out,” Beaumont affirmed with a faint smile. “Fortunately, your ice prison helped damp the worst of the spell.”
“Why tell us and kill himself then?”
Beaumont looked up to meet Carina’s troubled gaze. “Perhaps, in this case, it was worth dying sooner while also condemning Borghese.”
“Duchess!” Nicholas whispered out hoarsely.
“Yes, your Majesty!” Carina replied quickly.
“Borghese,” the crown prince growled grimly, eyes shut tight against the pain. “Arrest—him!”
“I will find him at once, your Majesty.” The Duchess rose quickly to her feet. “I will leave half of my knights here with you and send back the Royal Physician and a carriage.”
Nicholas nodded slowly and finally managed to open his eyes. “If Borgheses resists—You have my permission to execute him—Lady Kirsi.”
Carina’s jaw tightened as Lumi pressed her snout against the Duchess’s back. “Thank you, your Majesty,” she murmured and then offered a quick bow before she climbed onto the scriva’s back to begin her hunt.