Tale of Four

Alone at the dining table, Tristan stared at the plate of cold vegetables, covered in a brown liquid he didn’t know. Grabbing a slice of bread, he dipped it into the liquid and took a small taste, scowling at its sourness but finding it bearable. Looking up and around, he couldn’t help but find the dining hall barren, the single servant attending him more like a statue than a person.

’It’s always been too big for comfort, but this is just depressing.’ With a click of the tongue, he began the food, forcing it down his mouth, only interrupted by the door opening. Before anyone entered, he heard Elias talking, followed by William’s chuckle. Stepping in, Elias’s blank expression warped full of annoyance at seeing Tristan. Tristan could tell he weighed up for a moment if he should leave or force Tristan to leave, eventually deciding on neither when he took a seat at the opposite end of the table. Lord Fox sat next, not being too close to Elias but making sure he leaned more his way.

On a table that could sit twenty, it was too much distance between the three, any one of them having to raise their voice if they wished to speak to the other.

’Maybe that’s why it was made like this. So there could be no secrets at the table... probably not. Likely it was only becuase this was the most expensive way.’

”The King has sent news,” Elias said from across the table, breaking Tristan’s thoughts and stopping his feast. Looking up at him, he saw a servant place a plate of meat and veg. Although not much better than Tristan’s own pitiful serving, it still had meat at least. Lord Fox was next, his plate exactly like Elias’s.

Elias scooped up a bite of food and stared at it with disgust, letting it slowly fall off his fork into the sludge forming below. Unlike Elias, William smiled and took a bite of his own food, hiding his displeasure, betrayed by a half-second pause after the first bite. ”Lord Doyle said the easiest way to save money was cutting on the Courts’ amenities.” Lord Fox said, taking another bite of food, justifying the terrible meal, ”Although... these vegetables are hardly up to standard, are we sure they haven’t gone bad?”

”Fucking Clover,” Elias said under his breath and took a bite, his expression getting worse with every second the food was in his mouth. ”Raising prices so much.”

”It was expected,” Lord Fox said and shrugged, getting through his meal as quickly as possible. Tristan watched, quickly eating, wondering if Elias would get back onto the topic he started. After a few more bites off his own plate, Elias seemed to remember and, with an excuse, pushed away the food and looked at him.

”The Waterway has been seized.” Tristan’s eyes widened in surprise. ”Alongside that, Cleeve has been slain; his body is being returned to the palace, where my father has ordered proper funeral rites for him.” His voice trailed off by then, completely disinterested in the matter regarding Cleeve’s burial. Pulling the plate back towards him, Elais looked at it for a moment before placing his hand atop it. Red flames shot out and scorched the meat and veg, finally heating it back up. When he took his next bite, his face didn’t show the same disgust he had before.

”I see.” Tristan didn’t know what to say other than that. When he heard Anton was going to deal with the Waterway, he had assumed it would take months before it would fall, and yet it was already done.

”You will begin preparations immediately to set out for the Waterway. Why Father trusts that northerner still is beyond me, but he has ordered Ser Bryan Halls to lead the defence of the Waterway. You are there to provide a Royal Presence, and will defer to Ser Halls.” Taking a sip of wine, he finally finished his orders, ”Under no circumstances is the Waterway allowed to fall. Should you surrender or abandon it, you will be branded a traitor and executed.”

Tristan’s body stiffened. Looking up at Elias, he took a deep breath. ”Does that final part come from you, or the King?”

”It doesn’t really matter. I am Prince Regent. My word is law.” Closing his eyes, Tristan clenched his fists under the table. With a few deep breaths, he looked up at Elias before turning to William, who sat with a playful smile, watching the show before him.

”Understood.” Forcing the words out, Tristan couldn’t help but despise the man before him. ”Elias.” It was clear Elias wanted him dead, for whatever reason, but wasn’t willing to carry it out himself. With the orders made clear, Tristan was sure there wasn’t a chance he would risk killing him, especially considering Anton personally ordered him. ”You are just awful.” With that protection looming overhead, Tristan let his feelings be clear, ”The worst person I think I have ever met.”

”Really?” Elias gave a fake half-smile, clearly seeing why Tristan said what he did. His laugh covered the annoyance that Tristan had seen through the fact that he wouldn’t do anything to him right now. ”I am your Prince, cousin.”

”So was Cillian, and you killed him.” Tristran suppressed his laugh, seeing Elias nearly jump in anger. ”Granted, it was an accident, but then again, Mabel was your sister, and you had the King’s guard beat her. Finally, you send me to the most desired fort in the war, knowing I have no clear understanding of war, and will only allow me to leave when I die or if the war is won, and even if we win, should I have given the fort up at any point, you will execute me. I do not think there is anyone worse than you that I have met; in fact, I think you will be up there with Dante ’the Cruel’ when you become king.”

”Well.” Tristan saw the indifferent gaze Elias looked at him with, only betrayed by his right hand clenching and unclenching in anger at being disrespected. ”Dante ’The Cruel’ did put down a rebellion, embaressed a Great house and restored order to Veston. Is it meant to be insulting?”

Rolling his eyes, Tristan shook his head, ”What else did he do?” Feigning ignorance, Tristan tapped the table and leaned back, pretending to think, ”Forced his niece, a twelve-year-old girl, to marry him, burnt an entire Sunflare branch family alive so, in his words, they would be closer to their god, and throughout it all, the numerous disappearances of servants from the court during his reign. I mean, if you like being compared to him, Elias, that is fine.”

”Soemtimes the relam needs strong men, Tristan.” With a dismissive tone, Elias took a sip of wine. ”You speak as if it was not all justified anyway. He married his niece to ensure there would be no other claimant, granted she was rather young. He destroyed the Sunflare branch family becuase they revolted. As for disappearances, well, there is no way to prove it really happened, nor that he was the cause behind it.”

”My god, how are you defending this?” Tristan scoffed. ”I wish you good fortune, Elias, and when I am gone, do not get yourself killed by the Lord Invigilator. We wouldn’t want him knowing of your little plan with Lord Fox now.”

As Tristan walked off, he heard the tapping on the table, one Elias did whenever in thought. It brought Tristan to a halt, and turning around, he saw Elias looking at him. ”Vincent is dead.”

”What?” Tristan stared into Elias’s eyes, wondering if it was a joke, but nothing told him it was.

”He was assassinated at the Starlight Fort. Lord Walden’s son sent word and found the suspect. Father has taken charge of the interrogation before he returns to the Clover front.” With a smile, Elias turned away. ”Try not to be assassinated. It is a serious blow for morale, especially at such an important postion.”

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Stepping foward, Anton walked into the dark dungeon underneath the Starlight Fort and looked at Rosalia, her beautiful face black and blue, her wrists and ankles red and full of pus from the shackles. William looked at Rosalia, disappointed in his gaze, wondering why the woman he wished to take as a mistress had to be a killer, one the king would deal with himself.

”We found nothing, Your Grace.” William said with a tired voice, ”She refuses to break and will only mutter under her breath.”

”William Walden,” Anton said with a deeply cold voice, straining to say each word. William tensed up and bowed.

’He really was injured during the siege.’ Even in his fear, William couldn’t help but think that.

”I will deal with you later. For now, leave me.” William nodded and quickly turned around, forcing everyone out of the room. Alone, Anton stepped foward and grabbed Rosalia’s chin, forcing her to look up. The moment she saw his golden hair and black eyes, her eyes turned hateful before she chuckled. Spitting, blood landed on Anton’s cheek. With cool grace, he wiped the bloody spit off and looked at it.

”You killed my brother.” Quietly saying, Rosalia went to speak and mock Anton. The moment her mouth opened, Anton’s hand reached in and grabbed her back molar. Biting down as hard as she could, Rosalia stared in horror at Anton as he didn’t even blink, even when she was able to taste his blood in her mouth from her bite. Every hair on her body stood on edge and screamed at her to run, all her instincts telling her it was a matter of life and death. ”I may not have loved him, but he was still my brother.” Anton coldly said. Increasing his grip on Rosalia, molar, red silk webs extended from his finger and wormed their way into her gums and burrowed underneath. ”I don’t need you to tell me who you work for.”

Slowly, he pulled, making sure to never break eye contact. ”You will eventually pray to your God for this to end. The One Eyed Traveller, Lord of Creation, Helios, The Old Ones, the Heretical Gods, a foreign God. Who you pray for tells me enough.” With a powerful pull, the molar was torn from her mouth. Blood quickly poured as Rosalia screamed in pain.

Anton looked down as some of her blood landed on his chest, dyeing his shirt red. Slowly taking it off, he revealed a massive scar across his chest, courtesy of Cleeve. ”Do not think I will make a mistake and this will end prematurely.” Rosalia’s eyes shook seeing the scar across his chest, from a wound that should have killed him. ”I have just killed a man I greatly respected.” His voice was calm as he carefully folded the shirt and placed it to the side. ”And I cannot say I remain unaffected.” Stepping before Rosalia, he gave a smile. ”I also just lost the brother who I forced to be where he shouldn’t have been.” His hand moved, gliding over her face before resting atop her eye. Pushing his finger over her eyelids, he slowly pushed, ”You should have told William what he wanted.”

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William jumped up in surprise, seeing Anton walk in after six hours. Seeing his dripping red hands, he indicated towards the bucket of water, having already guessed Anton would have taken over the matter himself. Anton didn’t stand on ceremony and walked over, dipping his hands in the bucket to clean them off blood before wiping his face of the few drops on it.

William tried his best to stay smiling, but the tense silence alongside the terrified and sick-looking appearances of Anton’s guards made it a battle. ”William.” Anton spoke, finally cleaning the majority of the blood off his hands, ”Have a report of everything regarding that woman ready and sent to the Capital. Whilst this failure happened on your watch, I understand the man my brother was and will not lay the full blame on you.”

Internally, William screamed with joy, but keeping appearances, he bowed, ”Thank you, my king. I hope you found the informaiton you needed.”

”She was stubborn.” Looking underneath his nails, Anton pulled out a small blade from his belt, one surprisingly clean compared to the blood he was covered in, and began picking at it. ”All she said was Sorrows are our Punishment. Over and over until it was all she could say.”

William frowned but nodded, ”A prayer?”

”I will have Lord Fox look into it.” Finally free of blood, Anton turned to William, ”Have my brother’s body prepared and returned to the Capital. As for her body, do as you wish. She is in a strange state, but my brother always loved art.” Without waiting, Anton left, and William bowed. Shrugging, he walked off and headed down to the dungeon. Seeing the guards giving him looks that screamed not to enter, William brushed past, needing to know what he was working with.

Opening the door, the smell of blood, shit, and infection flooded his senses. Instantly, he threw up and clutched his stomach and face before looking at the corpse. Turning away, he threw up again, unable to believe what he saw.

’Your brother loved art?’ His eyes shook as he screamed the question. Statically, he turned to look at Rosalia again and wondered how it was possible for a person to do that to another. ’How angry did his death make him?’

Staring at Rosalia, it was like a doll had been stretched with only the thread holding it together. Each limb had been separated, without care, with red silk covering the wounds to forcefully block the bleeding. Finally, red silk held it all together. Looking up at her face, the beauty that he had lain with was gone; her left eye was removed from its socket, and her nose was gone.

’Oh, Lord. Please ensure I never make an enemy of him.’

Stepping foward once his senses had got used to the smell, William looked over the body and wondered how long Rosalia had lived in the state she was now in, considering the six hours Anton was down there.

’To only say Sorrows are our punishment. After all this. What type of enemy did Vincent have that they wouldn’t even break when torn apart?’