#torn between 'ah shit the convergence is onto me' and 'well ONE of us is gonna have to change'

[captorations]

i actually can't fucking believe this,

[zipstick-writes]

Inktober 2020 Day 14 - Armor

They were riding back to the city at a slow pace, Roman at the head of the group.

Virgil nudged his horse and rode forward to be beside Roman.

“Roman,” He began, sounding concerned. “How are you going to explain this to your father? He ordered you to bring Janus back, and we’re empty-handed.”

“Oh shit. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Language, Roman.” Patton joked.

“Oh, sorry pat.” Roman answered.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Logan pitched in, “Virgil has voiced a legitimate concern. King Romulus demanded we bring him back, and we’ve allied ourselves with him.”

“Well, what do you propose we tell him, Logan?”

“I’d suggest we tell him we were unable to find any evidence of suspicious activity in the area the reports came from. Perhaps we could also tell him that it’s possible he had caught wind of us searching for him and moved on already.”

Virgil nodded. “Let’s just hope he buys it. If he asks any questions we could be in trouble.”

-

“Prince Roman,” The King said, “How did you fare on your mission?”

“I’m afraid we were unable to locate the stranger the villagers reported. We found no evidence of any unusual or suspicious activity, so it’s possible that he caught wind of our search and moved on before we had the chance to reach him.”

The King looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered;

“That is unfortunate. However, it is of the utmost importance that he is captured. Reports indicate that he is heading towards the city and we can't risk our citizens’ safety. You must ride out again and find him.”

As if that’s what he cares about, Roman internally scoffed.

As if that’s what he cares about, Roman internally scoffed. But he supposed he had no choice, so he nodded and responded,

“We will, father. We’ll gather our equipment and leave immediately.”

He then turned to face the other Knights and said, “We’re going to the armory. Make sure your swords are sharpened, we may need them.”

The others nodded, and they headed to the armoury.

-

The armory was empty, as it usually was this time of the afternoon. Virgil and Logan picked up their bows and quivers, filling them with arrows and strapping them to their backs. Roman collected their swords from the rack on the wall, passing them to their owners.

Logan walked up to a decorative suit of armour and pulled down the spear it was holding. Behind it, a door slid open. The four entered the doorway and it closed again behind them, leaving no indication anyone had entered. It was a small space, and in the centre of the room was a table with four seats around it. They each took a place on the table.

They had used this room since Patton had discovered it years ago, back when they were teenagers, by grabbing onto a spear and almost falling flat on his face when it moved. Behind the suit was an old but still functioning mechanism leading to a space known only to them. In this room, they had plotted to subtly rebel against King Romulus’ rulings. Doing things such as distributing extra wealth or food during times of especially widespread poverty, or returning excessive taxes to citizens once the money had been counted. While the Castle staff had taken notice of that pretty quickly, but they had never once been discovered, having already mapped out several other hidden passageways, almost all of which ended up converging back to this room and others around it, which they sometimes used for their personal chambers. The room was also useful for occasional sleepovers, a fact Patton and Roman were particularly enthusiastic about.

Today, though, they were intent on discussing just how they could co-operate alongside Janus, despite having no way to contact him.

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’ll work.” Patton said thoughtfully. “Maybe we could send him one of our maps of the secret passageways in the castle? Nobody’ll notice if a messenger bird goes missing for a while.”

There was silence for a moment, each of them looking thoughtful, when Logan piped up.

“The concept is satisfactory,” He began, looking as if he was choosing his words carefully. “However there’s too great a risk of the message being intercepted.”

Virgil nodded.

“I’m with Logan. It may be read by someone who wants power, but doesn’t have the Kingdom’s best interests at heart. Someone like that with inside knowledge of the castle could be very bad. Or it could be intercepted by a castle guard, and out hideout could be discovered and there’d be no more helping the people. Even worse, they could see we sent it to a known enemy of the Crown, and we’d be tried for treason, and-“

“Okay, we get it, Sir Glooms-A-Lot.” Roman cut in before the most anxious of the four could start panicking. “It seems like the only option we have is to deliver it ourselves. We’ll take the western passage to the exit by the stables and ride out straight away.”

There was a murmur of agreement, and they walked towards a door on the west side of the room. They headed to the stables, took out their horses, and were about to set off when Roman took notice of a missing horse.

“Wait! My brother’s horse is missing. I dread to think what he’s up to.”

“Remus? Probably forging alliances with common thieves, I’ll bet.” Virgil said.

“Probably. Best be on the lookout for him too, just in case. I know we don’t exactly get along sometimes, what with his... Needlessly detailed fantasy tales, but I do care for him a great deal.”

“Shouldn’t we get going if we want to find Janus?” Patton suggested.

“You’re right, Pat. Let’s move out.”

And the four knights rode out of the castle once again.

-

“Ah, the Duke. How good to see you.”

“Janus. I need to discuss something with you. It’s really quite important.”

“Alright, Remus. Come, follow me.”

They entered the crumbled ruins of an old but still somehow intact watchtower, once used by military scouts but now abandoned. A perfect hideout for them.

They sat side-by-side at a small stone table. Janus sat quietly, patiently waiting for Remus to talk. Remus sighed, looking unsure of himself, a rather unusual sight. Janus put a gloved hand on Remus’s, gently reassuring him.

“It’s just.. This rebelling against my father. I don’t feel... right.”

“What do you mean, Remus?”

“What I mean is, it’s not some loyalty to my father or whatever. It’s Roman, my brother.”

“The Crown Prince? What about him?”

“I think I just feel conflicted. It’s like I’m torn between my brother and my only friend.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I have some unexpected news that I think may make you feel better about this.”

Remus lifted his head from where he was staring at the table. There was something akin to hope glimmering in his eyes.

“Yesterday, I had an encounter with your brother and his famed Knights. There was… a misunderstanding and we duelled. He had me pinned to the ground and asked what my motivations were. I told him that we- I wished to put an end to the divide between noble and common-born people.”

Remus was listening intently, focused completely on Janus’s words. “What happened then?”

“I was expecting to meet my end right then and there,” he chuckled, “But he sheathed his sword and told me that he’d had the same goal for years. I, naturally, didn’t believe him. Takes a liar to know one. But he spared me, told me he’d seen how King Romulus hordes his fortune. And now, we’ve come to a sort of alliance.”

Remus was silent for a few moments. Then he muttered,

“I don’t have to choose. I can have both?” he looked like he didn’t believe his own words, but was reassured when Janus nodded.

A sound came from outside the watchtower. Both snapped their heads up and faced towards the sound. It was a horse neighing. This shouldn't have alarmed them, given the fact that both of their horses were tethered inside a small shelter on the side of the tower, but the sound was accompanied by the sound of people talking.

“Stay here, Remus. I'm gonna see what's going on.”

-

“This is it. This is where we found Janus yesterday, chances are he’ll be in here.”

“Wait, Ro. Why are there two horses there?” Patton pointed out. “That black one is the same one Janus was riding yesterday, but whose is that other one?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Perhaps the snake has a guest over.” Roman replied. “Logan, check the saddlebag. There could be something in there we could use to identify this visitor.”

Logan nodded and dismounted his  own grey and white horse and made his way over to the horses tethered in the shelter. He was reaching for the saddlebag when he noticed it.

“Roman,” he called, “Look at this. This is the royal crest. And the craftsmanship looks like it was made by the city’s best leather workers.”

“What could a royal horse be doing out here?”

“Maybe someone else from the palace is rebelling from the inside, like us.” Virgil offered.

“Wait a minute,” Roman said. “This is Remus’s horse.”

“Explains why it went missing.” Said Virgil.

“Yeah, it does.”

Just then, a figure appeared in the doorway.

“Well, well, the Prince is back.”

The knights, not realising that Janus was there, jumped at the voice.

“Janus. I have something regarding our... Partnership that I feel may be useful to you.”

“And what might this 'something’ be?”

“It’s a map of the numerous passageways in Sandaria castle. Our meeting point is here,” he said, pointing to a spot on the map, “past the treasury and behind the armory. There’s a hidden entrance to a passageway near the Caves of Fandor that leads right into our rendezvous point.”

“And why exactly are you telling me the inner workings of the palace?”

“Well, we have a common goal and a  sort of alliance. It would be more convenient to have an established meeting point than having to track each other every time we need to discuss something.”

“Well, Roman, it seems you’re more intelligent than people like to give you credit for.”

“Roman? What are you doing here?”

The two turned to the source of the new voice, to see Remus standing at the foot of the spiral staircase.

“Remus. If you’re here then you must have heard about my alliance with Janus-“ The Snake picked up on the question and nodded in confirmation, and Roman continued. “We’re here to deliver some information on the passageways in the castle.”

“How long have you known about these passageways?”

“A few years. It was Patton who initially discovered them, when-“

“You’ve known about secret passageways in the castle for years,” Remus interrupted, “and you didn’t tell me about them?”

“You and I both know how terrible of an idea that would be.”

“That’s fair.” Remus responded. “Still mad about it tho.”

“Ugh, fine. Our meeting point is behind the old suit of armour next to the spears in the armory.”

“And how do you get in?”

Roman sighed. “You pull the spear it’s holding down like a lever and the entrance will open.”

“Thanks, brother!”

He’s probably pondering how many new crimes he can commit with this, Roman thought.

-

Roman and Janus were alone at the table in the watchtower.

“Janus, would you like to stay in the castle? There’s a spare bedchamber only accessible by taking the passage from the armoury, and I bet it’ll be a hell of a lot nicer than this place.”

“I could benefit from some more... Livable, shall we say, living space.”

“And you’ll get intel directly from the heart of the city.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll be coming with you.”

-

Outside the entrance to the caves of Fandor was a wall covered in ivy and vines.

“You see that little waterfall near the mouth?” Roman asked, pointing. “Behind that is the entrance to a passageway leading straight to our meeting chamber.”

“Got it. I just think it’s important to know that I don’t deal well with the cold, so there better be a fireplace in my room.”

“Oh there is, don’t worry.”

-

“And this is where we make our plans. They’re never much more than distribution of coin or food, but whatever we can do helps.”

Janus nodded.

“Would you like to be shown to your chambers?” Logan asked. At Janus’s nod, he and Patton led him through a door on the left of the room into a hallway with six doors, each painted a different colour. At the end of the corridor were two newly-painted doors, one green and one yellow.

In the room behind the yellow door was a large bedroom with several cabinets, a desk stocked with paper, ink, and quills, and a dressing screen. Up against the right wall was a large fireplace with an expensive-looking rug in front of it. Beside it was a pile of thick blankets. When Janus sent the two Knights a questioning look, Patton piped up,

“Roman told us that you don’t do well with the cold, so I snuck in some extra blankets from the laundry.”

“That was... Very thoughtful of you, Sir Patton. Thank you.”

“Just Patton is fine, Janus. And it was really no trouble.” Patton responded, smiling that blindingly bright smile of his. He’s very cheerful for one of the kingdom’s most skilled knights, Janus thought.

And against the middle of the wall was a large, luxurious bed piled with pillows and with a red-and-gold quilt covering it. A choice of Roman’s, no doubt.

“This is beyond perfect. Thank you”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“No, really. I never could have expected to be accepted by the Knights of Sandaria, let alone getting treated this well.” He removed one of his gloves, and while he guessed the knights didn’t understand the meaning of the gesture, they surely caught on to its significance. “I mean this from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”