TFT Chapter 6... Finally

Chapter 6

Graves tied his horse next to all the others near the bottom of the steps and started up them. Nafi flew next to him on the right and Argyle trotted along on the left. They made their way up the huge marble stairs until they finally reached the castle’s main entrance. There were no doors, but a long row of pillars which led to a large open room. The front wall had been removed and replaced by pillars. King Richard felt that it was more inviting. There were no doors to close and the castle was always wide open to his people.
“Do you know where you’re going?” asked Nafi.
“I think so, but it’s been a while.”
“Let’s use that directory over there before we go any further, then.”
“You used to live here. You don’t know where you’re going?” asked Graves.
“Sure, I can tell you about every inch of the gigantic garden but I never spent time anywhere else.”
“To the directory then.”
The directory stood around ten feet tall and had three sides. One side was a map of all the castles floors. Another side had a huge reward poster. The third side was an advertisement for a new exhibit at the museum.
“Ok… so we need to go this way…” Graves traced a route with his finger.
“No that looks like it would take us through the kitchen. We’d have to go left here and then right there…” Nafi corrected.
“That’s a dead end though. See? There’s only one way in that room.”
“Oh yeah. So then left there through the east courtyard and then back through here…” she pointed. “Wait, that puts us farther away from the stairs than where we are now.
“Who in the blue hell designed this place? It’s like all halls lead to nowhere!”
“Having some trouble navigating the castle?” asked a friendly voice.
They turned around to find a young woman dressed professionally and smiling at them. She wore a nametag that said ‘Corle, Tour Guide.’
“Yes actually. We were wondering if we might speak with the King about his daughter,” said Graves, not making eye contact.
“Hmm, well the throne room is on the tour but unfortunately the King is not,” she said, professionally.
“If someone knew where she was, and wanted to offer information her whereabouts… who would that person speak to?” asked Nafi.
“Well the head of castle security would be a good start. Otherwise that person would have to find a way to speak to the King himself. But that could prove difficult.”
“Difficult even if we know exactly where she is and we just want to tell him how to get her back?” asked Graves, now playing along with Nafi’s white lie.
“No one speaks to the King directly. It’s just not safe. But I suppose I could try to find you someone who might be able to direct you to a higher ranking security officer,” said Corle.
“Corle I’m not sure you fully understand the importance of our visit to the castle today.” He turned to Nafi while still talking to Corle. “We NEED to speak to the King. And we NEED you to take us to him.”
Nafi waved her wand in a circle and covered Corle with bright, sparkling fairy dust.
“Follow me,” Corle smiled, motioning with her hand and walking down a hallway on the left side of the open lobby.
They walked down corridors, turning left, right, left, out through beautiful courtyards and gardens, through hallways, up stairs, down stairs, and around corners. Graves was lost after the second turn, but Nafi and Argyle were paying close attention. Corle brought them to a door and asked them to lease wait while she spoke with the head of castle security. Graves waited until she closed the door behind her.
“Find the King. Or at least find out where he is. Then come get us,” he said to Argyle. Argyle trotted off down the hall.
“Are you sure that was a good idea?” asked Nafi.
“Well I can’t send you. There hasn’t been a free roaming fairy around here in years. A cat would look far less out of place. Besides, I need you here in case we need anything else.”
The door opened before she had time to make a case.
“Go on in,” said Corle. “And thank you for visiting the castle today.”
“Thank you,” said Nafi, making up for Graves’s poor manners.
They entered the small office and closed the door behind them. It was lit only by two torches on the walls and had no windows. It seemed more like a broom closet than an office and was a far cry from the extravagance of the castle that the public saw.
“She told me you have information about Princes Delletrium,” said the head guard.
“Yes and we will give this information to the King only,” said Graves, as seriously as possible.
“When it comes to the situation of the missing Princess, I AM the King. So tell me what you know or I will find a way to get the information from you,” answered the guard with less patience.
“I am a man of patience so I will present you with two options. You can take me to the King and I will tell him everything he needs to know. He can then tell you what I told him and the Princess may be safely back here by tomorrow. Or, you can refuse to take us to the King. And then… who knows?”
“Or the third option!” he punched his desk and jumped from his seat, knocking his chair over. “I squash your little friend and torture you until you tell me what you know. And then maybe, if the information you give me is correct, I might let you out of the dungeon. How does that choice sound?”
“It sounds like a viable option and would get you the information you seek. Except that I did not present it as an option. So it doesn’t count. Now take us to the King,” said Graves with a cocky smile.
“Oh I’ll take you somewhere,” said the guard through his teeth. He unsheathed his sword from his side; but the room was too small and the pommel hit the wall before the sword left the sheath.
Graves kicked the desk back against the guard, forcing him back and tripping him over his fallen chair. He dove over the desk on top of the guard and began punching wildly. The guard stopped struggling after a short time and Graves pulled himself to his feet.
“What did that accomplish?” asked Nafi.
“I was hoping he would take us to King Richard but when it didn’t go as planned, I had to remove him from the equation. On the up side of things, we’re not being taken to the dungeon. On the down side, we are no closer to finding the King than when we arrived here.”
“Let’s go before anyone finds out what happened,” she said with some urgency.
“Wait. The only reason we need to see the King is for a place to start looking for the Princess. But here we find ourselves in the office of the castle’s head of security. If there is any information we can use, one would assume we would find it in here. So start looking,” he smiled.
He pulled the desk back and began tearing through the drawers. Nafi struggled to pull open the drawer of a large filing cabinet. She also looked through every paper she could find.
“This is interesting,” said Graves. He began to read through a file. “…Missing from her carriage… inside when they left the castle… gone when they reached the square… no witnesses… no reports of any mysterious activity from the rest of the kingdom on that day… all neighboring towns report quiet patrols and no suspicious behavior from any travelers… except for Edin which still has not reported… Edin. That’s where we have to go next.”
“Edin?” asked Nafi. “Are you sure? It’s a truly evil place. It’s way too easy to assume that that’s the place to start.”
“My dear fairy, Edin is the only town not to report activity for the day the Princess was taken. Now what do you think? Did the Governer not send the report? Or did someone make sure the report never made it to Garemath?”
“Ehhh…” she groaned. “I really don’t wanna go to Edin.”
“No one does. But it looks like the only option. I’ve been there many times so we should be safe.”
“Why does it not surprise me that you’ve been there? And more than once!”
He could only smile at her. There was a faint sound of scratching coming from the other side of the door. He opened the door just enough to allow a fat cat to squeeze through before closing the door again behind Argyle. Argyle bound into the room and jumped up on the desk, looking at Graves.
“Did you find the King?”
Argyle shook his head, “No.”
“The King isn’t even here today is he?”
Argyle again shook his head, “No.”
“Well at least now we know and we have a place to start,” he said as he folded up all the papers pertaining to the Princess.
“Why are you taking those?” asked Nafi. “We already know what they say!”
“Right. And we don’t want anyone else to know. I can’t have anyone else getting to her first now can I?”
“But I thought you wanted her to e rescued,” asked Nafi, somewhat confused.
“Definitely. Definitely, truly, completely I want her to be rescued… by me. That gold is mine.”
“That’s the only reason you’re doing this?!” shouted Nafi. Graves looked at her with a very, very puzzled look on his face.
“I thought we had established this. I could care less about her just like the rest of Garemath. But more gold bricks than I can carry is enough to get anyone’s attention. And the best way to rescue her will be to do it without anyone getting in my way.”
“I thought you cared!”
“I do care. I want her rescued the same as you.”
“For yourself! For your money!”
“Don’t act so surprised. I’ve never been anything but honest with you. I never pretended to be respectable, kind, caring, or an otherwise pleasant person. Whatever our motivation, we both want to see her rescued. You for your love for her, and me for my love of gold. Now you can accept this, help me rescue her, and we will both get what we want. We will go our separate ways and we’ll both be happy.”
“I just thought you really cared. That’s why I wanted to help you,” she said, starting to cry. “I left everything behind because I thought I could do somehting better.”
“Why do you not understand that we both want the same thing, only for different reasons? I’ll get more money than I’ll know what do with and you’re get your old friend back. I see no harm in it and we both go home happy.”
“I gave up my home!” she snapped.
“No one asked you to.”
“It’s too late. I can’t go back now. But I can find her and I’ll do it without you!” she shouted through tears. She began furiously pulling on he door handle, but was not strong enough to open it or even big enough to get her hands around it.
He reached out and pulled the door open for her and she shot through the crack almost instantly. He turned to Argyle who looked a little upset.
“I was never anything but honest with her. It’s not our fault she misunderstood us, right?”
Argyle nodded in reluctant agreement.
“Let’s get out of here before anyone catches on to us.”
He peered out the door and ten exited when he saw the coast was clear.
“That’s him!” he heard Nafi say down the hallway behind him. He turned around and there was Nafi pointing him out to a pair of castle guards.
“I really do hate fairies,” he said drawing his sword and shield.