Enlightened Empire

Within the silver palace, Corco had always felt out of place. His mother, the former empress, had been southern nobility. After a grueling civil war, the marriage had been supposed to seal lasting peace between the north and the south. However, things didn’t go as planned. People didn’t forget that quickly. Fueled by individual grudges left over after years of constant warfare, the animosities towards the young empress never ceased. As the heir destined to heal the wounds between the north and south, Corco himself had also been under constant pressure in the capital.

As a result, spent most of his time either inside of his own raven court yard in the castle or at Siniya, the small southern estate his mother had brought into House Pluritac as part of her dowry. However, his constant absence only gave those with sinister motives an excuse to label Corco as ’weak and sickly’, not suitable for succession. And once they had poisoned mother and son, their accusations had become true. In any case, what mattered about Corco’s history at this moment was that he didn’t know the family castle all that well. He had escaped his room a while ago and now he he was tired, bleeding and hopelessly lost. The dark of night and the roaring storm also did nohing to improve his situation.

"Intruder!"

"Catch the assassin!"

"A foreigner has killed the prince!"

The shouts had echoed through the floors for a while now. Someone had leaked his supposed assassination and his greatest worry had become reality. By now the guards swarmed the walkways to catch the intruder. Corco, meanwhile, had no idea who to trust, so when he had walked down the memorized path to Fadelio’s room, he had been blocked by the oncoming guards and had decided to take a detour. Thus he had lost his way. With every additional minute out in the open, his pursuers drew the circle around him more and more tightly.

As he spotted a light move up the stairs behind his back, he rushed forward, in frantic search of a solution. After only a few steps, another light appeared right in his front.

*Trapped.*

Although Corco’s chances were bleak, he wouldn’t go out without a fight. As his fingers tightened around the assassin’s sword, the prince got ready to make the largest possible commotion. He wanted to believe that not all the family warriors were part of tonight’s attempt on his life. Even if they were, he would make his head as costly as possible. Sometimes simple viciousness could trump the best laid plans.

Although Corco had already prepared himself to fight for his life, he realized his mistake after only a few more steps. The light in his front had not come from another guard, but from inside one of the rooms instead. A resident must have been woken up from all the ruckus, be it the storm or the shouts of assassination.

*Last chance,* the prince thought as he moved up and banged his fist against the doorframe.

"Open up! The rooms are to be searched for hidden assassins!" he shouted.

Through the paper door, Corco could see the owner of the room shuffle up to the door and slide it open to peek outside. Against the strength of the owner, Corco drove frame open with his foot and stormed inside. His rush overwhelmed his poor victim and drove her back into the room. To avoid any trouble, Corco put his hand over her mouth and his knife under her neck.

Though the room’s occupant was a woman, Corco hardly had the leisure to care. As he forced her back some more, the helpless damsel took a large step back to gain leverage and jammed the dagger in her hand right into her attacker’s stomach.

With a clink, the blade got stuck on Corco’s chain mail. You could never spend enough on good armor.

"Drop it or I’ll cut your throat," the prince growled.

For a few eternal seconds, he stared into the girl’s defiant green eyes and realized that a threat wouldn’t be enough.

"I’d rather not have to," he added in a softer tone. This was the girl’s last chance. Corco had to close the door soon, before a guard would come by.

With a clang, the knife dropped onto the wooden floor. Corco kicked the weapon into a corner and then turned to close the door.

He was safe, for now.

"Back to the window," he barked at his prisoner as he pointed with his sword.

"What do you want?" Although the girl’s voice had a light accent, there was no fear.

"...I want you to get back a bit. Thought I said that already. If you please."

After the girl had inched to the back wall of the room, Corco took off the assassin’s helmet. Free from the constraint, he began to cut apart the assassin’s robe as well. He didn’t want to get it stuck halfway and make himself vulnerable.

"What exactly is your plan, revealing yourself like this? Shouldn’t an assassin keep his face hidden?" Despite seeing a man undress himself in front of her, the room’s owner didn’t seem to care much about his actions. She still moved, bit by bit towards her left as she engaged in casual conversation.

"I’m not an assassin."

For the first time, Corco gave the woman a careful look. A bit short and a bit thin, unfortunately for her she didn’t meet the beauty standards of her time. Despite her stature, she appeared well-trained, maybe a guard to some high-born lady. However, the girl also seemed quite young, around twenty years at most, had a pretty face and well-maintained skin, which might have made her a lady herself. From her accent and the tone of her skin it seemed like she would be from a surrounding country, if not from Medala itself. Now that Corco had finished his analysis, he informed his opponent of the results, to prevent any accidents.

"I’m half a head taller than you and considerably heavier. I have armor and a sword. Unless you have an army hidden on that shelf to your left, I wouldn’t try my luck and stop moving. Now."

The girl gave him a critical look before she stepped back, an unwilling stare aimed at the shelf and whatever she had hidden there.

Once his host had been pacified, Corco got down on one knee and looked at his shoulder. It was starting to go numb from the pressure, but at least the wound hadn’t bled through the bandage for now.

*Let’s just hope they didn’t splurge on poison,* he thought.

Even so, he had to get some help fast if he wanted to keep his arm and his life.

"I’ll ask you a few questions and would appreciate answers, ok? Ok."

Corco took off the backpack which had been hidden under the black robe and started to rummage inside as he continued his mental thread.

"Where are we?"

The look she gave him this time was dumbfounded, but it seemed like she had made the decision not to provoke the unknown intruder. As such, she still answered.

"Pluritac Castle?"

"...where in the castle?"

"A guest room. I don’t know where."

Corco had no idea how the castle’s interior had been rearranged in seven years, so this would be less than helpful.

"Time for plan B then."

He took out an ethanol compass to check the direction. Back across the Welfalic Sea,he was forced to build it himself. After all, he had to make sure advanced navigational technology such as this would not stay there, with people who could become his enemies as soon as he became emperor.

"Tell me what’s outside that window there. If we’re both lucky and you do a good job, I’ll be out of your hair soon," the prince used his sword to point towards the large window next to the girl. Although she couldn’t see anything through paper, darkness and rain, the girl still looked over in reflex.

"It’s a courtyard garden in the castle."

"Ok. You know how high we are?"

"Second floor."

Corco looked down at the compass in his hand as he mumbled instructions.

"Good, good. Can you hear the river? Not now, I mean usually. Outside or with the window open."

"...I don’t believe I can," she said with a frown.

"...wait... what?"

Corco looked up at her and then down at his compass to check if it was broken. The compass was fine. Which could only mean...

"...isn’t this my old Raven Yard then? How the hell did it turn into a place for guests? I thought those servants were just fucking with me when they didn’t bring me here..."

His temper provoked, the enraged prince looked up at the girl again.

"...and now that I think about it, who the fuck are you? From hearing your accent... aren’t you an outsider?"

Sure to avoid large movements, the girl nodded her head.

"No foreigners allowed? No foreigners my fucking ass you old fucker! Oh boy, this one’s probably a dignitary too! How fucking shit can he actually be at ’human’! HEY!!"

As Corco paced up and down to vent his frustration, the girl tried to move back towards the shelf, but the prince’s angry yell stopped her in her tracks once again. The ensuing silence also managed to bring Corco back to reality. His temper couldn’t help him here, only survival mattered. Now he finally knew where he was, but unfortunately, he would have to cross half the castle to reach his goal. The two were once again frozen stiff, each of them lost in frantic search for a solution to their own predicament.

"Fuck’em. I’m not gonna make this easy," Corco gnarled through his teeth. Determined to gith to the last, he drew the second pistol from his backpack.

"Hey, foreigner girl. Have you seen a cannon before? Or what about a hand cannon?"

"Of course," she answered, as she drew further towards the back of the room. Without a doubt, the girl was getting more and more upset by her guest’s erratic behavior. However, Corco didn’t have the time to care.

"Well, this is called a wheellock pistol," he announced across the room as he started to load the weapon. "It’s a hand cannon, but better. The barrel is so thick it can punch through the most solid armor. Believe me, I tried. The charge and projectile are stored in these little paper cartridges." He bit open the paper and kept loading. "When you push the trigger, this mechanism here brushes against a piece of pyrite, which creates sparks. Which ignite the gunpowder, which ignites the paper cartridge, which releases the bullet, which won’t end well for you."

With the demonstration completed, he now held a loaded gun in his hand.

"So with that out of the way, here is what I would like you to do."

__________________________

He had had enough. They had been searching in the storm and rain all night but had found no trace of this assassin. It didn’t matter anyways. Crown Prince Corcopaca was already dead.

Even if he found the assassin, it wasn’t like he could do anything other then get himself killed. He wasn’t like any of those elite warriors. Normally, he wouldn’t even be allowed in here. Now however, someone had mobilized every available hand to help with the search. Unfortunately for him, he had two of those, one on each whimpy arm.

"Hello? guardsman?"

From across the hallway, a sudden sound ripped him out of his misery. Someone had called out to him, from inside a half-opened room. Unhappy with his lot, he walked up to do his duty.

"Could you please tell me what is happening? I am afraid," the young woman inside the room whispered.

"Young Lady, it is dangerous outside. Please do not-"

"Excuse me?! I cannot hear you over the storm! Please come inside first!" the girl shouted as she stepped back to make room.

Just as he went inside, just as he thought that this would be a good excuse to get away from his duties for a second, an arm went around his neck and his world went dark.

__________________________

Inside the room, the guard’s lifeless body slid to the ground. Corco had waited opposite the girl, his pistol raised towards her to make sure she would obey his commands. When the guard had entered and was still distracted by Corco’s accomplice, he had stuck the assassin’s knife under the man’s helmet and up into his skull. Although it remained stuck there like a plug, the wound around the knife still spouted out blood like a leaky pipe. Nauseous, Corco turned around to get away from the grueling feedback he had felt in his hands the moment he had scrambled the man’s brain. With trembling hands, he closed the door and packed away the pistol. While he kept himself busy in his attempt not to retch, the girl had finally reached that shelf of hers and drawn a short sword of her own.

Corco’s eyes turned large in shock as the girl stormed him.

*Careless again!*

Just about, he managed to deflect her hasty attack from his head onto his chain mail. Now in close, Corco grabbed her tightly around her back to trap her sword arm.

"Unhand me you beast!" the girl screamed.

"You have any idea what they’ll think if they find a dead guard in your room?!"

"Hold your tongue, creature!" she kept shouting as she tried to wriggle free her arm. Corco was still focused on diplomacy.

"You’ll be an accomplice to a prince’s assassination. No matter who you are, you’ll die!"

"..."

It seemed that, even in her anger, the girl would still listen to reason. As soon as she understood her position, she had stopped screaming and resorted to a glare instead.

"You wanna get out of this? You’ll need my help."

"What could an assassin possibly do to help me?" the girl sneered in response.

"Well, right now, betting on an unknown assassin seems like your best shot."

After a few more seconds of their staring contest, the girl dropped her second weapon for the night.

Corco let go and took some distance. He then tried to take off the cumbersome chain mail. Of course, his numb arm didn’t make things easier, and he got stuck halfway.

"Crap.... hey, accomplice! Some help here?"

Gingerly, the girl walked up and pulled the chains over Corco’s head without a word of complaint.

"Oh, hey, didn’t think that would work. Thanks, I guess."

As always when he tried to distract himself, Corco started to talk. In the meantime, he also took off the cheap helmet and leather armor from the guard’s corpse. As much as possible, he tried to avoid the growing pool of blood during the process.

"So what is your plan exactly?" the girl asked him with crossed arms and furrowed brows.

"It’ll be easy. I take the guard’s stuff and get out of here under the cover of the storm. Gotta get some proper first aid for that arm. We dump the guy’s body out of the window, assassin’s sword and all, which hopefully buys you enough time so you won’t be arrested, tortured and killed by tomorrow morning. At which point I’ll magnificently show up and exonerate you."

"An assassin, exonerate me?" Once again the girl sneered.

"Not an assassin, remember?" Corco pointed to his chest, before he gave the girl a second critical look. "You, on the other hand, are far too calm through all of this. How you dealt with that guard as well. Maybe you’re the assassin here?"

Again silent, the girl shrugged off the accusation.

"Anyways", Corco continued, "I’m not the assassin, I’m his target. Once I get through the night, I’ll be the most powerful person in this castle... well, on paper at least."

"And the most powerful member of the royal family cannot trust his own guards?"

The girl, far less squeamish than the prince, looked down at the corpse as they carried it to the window.

"You haven’t been here for long, have you?" Corco looked at her with pity. "You’ll have to learn quickly then. If the people in my family are good at one thing, it’s shamelessness. And murder. If my family is good at two things, it’s shamelessness and murder and-"

Out of nowhere, a strange thought popped into his head and interrupted his thoughts.

"...nobody expects the Spanish inquisition," he finished.

"Huh?" the girl stared at the strange prince, confused and incredulous about her new accomplice. Even so, they heaved the body over the windowsill and dropped it down into the mud of the garden. Against the wall of rain which washed into the room, Corco closed the paper window again.

"Anyways." he said as he turned and brushed the water out of his face. "Go take care of my stuff for now, I’ll take it back tomorrow." Corco put on the guard’s helmet to complete his disguise and walked towards the front door, back again towards the dark hallways of Pluritac Castle. "Crown Prince Corcopaca Titu Pluritac owes you a debt. Corco was already out of the room as he turned around one last time. "And sorry for the mess and all."

And with that, he was gone.

__________________________

All throughout the night, Fadelio had sat awake and ready. He was aware of the commotion outside, but could do nothing. Going out now would only make him a suspect. Maybe it would play right into the hands of whoever had organized the attack. Nervous and worried, he sat on his bed, his axe in hand and waited for a message or for day to come. The sudden knock on the door could only mean the former. Either that, or the attackers were coming for him next.

"Enter!" he shouted across the room as he stood up and got ready for a fight.

"It’s me!"

Drenched, bloody and exhausted, his master threw off his helmet as he fell into the room.

Corco was finally safe.