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Commoner Knowledge part 6

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A week later the Faire was over.
Of those in the courtyard, Queen Mortea was the first to regain consciousness. She ran to get Zak and his students. Together they got the machine working long enough to return the girl home. Then I was taken home. I had spent three days unable to leave my bed, but was still confined to Castle Susane for the final few days of the Faire. I didn't see any of the dignitaries before they departed.
I don't know what would've happened without Duncan and Queen Mortea. While I was out of commission Duncan stood in my stead for everything I needed to do. He reported to me every morning and every night, keeping me up to date and getting my word on the things that needed it. Queen Mortea helped him, doing the tasks he simply could not handle alone. She oversaw one of the most important events in Labyrinne: the election of my Council of Advisors. Every other year the cities of Labyrinne would elect a representative to take the concerns of their people straight to me. In turn, they would relay anything I wanted to do back to the people. Somehow it had escaped everyone's attention that Election Day was the last day of the World's Faire. But thanks to Mortea, it had gone off without a single problem. I was unendingly grateful to both Sir Duncan and Queen Mortea.
I late in the afternoon on the day after the Faire I met Duncan for a briefing in my study.
'The results are in on your new Council,' my aide began. 'Surprisingly enough, only Firefly reelected the same Advisor. All the others have never held Council positions before.'
This was surprising. Usually my Advisors would serve for years at a time, a new member only being elected after one retired. I had been fortunate to work with so many people over the years. I couldn't believe how many hadn't been reelected.
'I've worked with some of those people since I first became king.' I sighed and leaned on my desk. 'I suppose times change.'
'I suppose so,' Duncan said, crossing his legs. He sat across from me, in front of the desk. 'Strangely enough, none of the newly-elected Advisors are actually from Labyrinne.'
'What?' I was confused.
Duncan looked at his clipboard. 'Yes. While most of them have lived here for a number of years, all of the new Advisors were born in Jasmineer.'
'All of them?'
'Yes, sir.'
I thought about it briefly. 'How odd.'
'…Quite,' Duncan agreed.
I paid no more attention to this fact, however. 'When can we schedule the first Council meeting?'
'They have already scheduled one for Thursday.'
I looked up. 'What? Thursday?'
'Yes, sir.'
'That was fast. Someone usually consults me first.'
'Nobody said anything to me or I would have passed the message along. And I agree, sir. It was very fast.' Duncan set his clipboard in his lap and looked at me seriously. 'I don't quite know how to put this, but… something feels off to me. The new Council set the meeting almost immediately after the election results were released. One would think they could have at least waited until you had met them.'
That scared me. I absolutely trusted Duncan's opinion. He had been my aide and close friend for all 16 years of my reign. If he felt dubious about something, then I probably had better, as well.
'Are you really worried, Duncan?' I asked. I had to admit, I felt strange, too, but I thought that was just a result of what had happened at Aria.
He thought about it, his brow furrowed.
'Because if you think something's wrong, then-'
'No, sir. Sorry. I don't know what I thought. It's fine.'
'Are you sure?' I trust you, Duncan. If you think something's wrong, I want to know.'
Duncan shook his head and smiled weakly. 'It's nothing, I promise. Now, um…' He fumbled with his clipboard. 'I'm sure you want to discuss the situation at Aria.'
I sat up. 'Yes.'
He nodded. 'Well, I have discussed it with the president of the school, and we both agree it would be best if we covered it up. Professor Llewellyn, Mr. Drogen, and Miss Helia have all agreed that they'll keep themselves to themselves.'
'You mean… lie?' I didn't like the sound of that.
My aide hesitated. 'Yes, sir. The damage at Aria is being attributed to the storm and a failed experiment. There were no other witnesses, as far as we can tell. Your injuries have been attributed o a minor carriage accident that happened during the initial search for Princess Roselia.'
I felt extremely uneasy about the cover-up. But what else could we do? Who knows what the public reaction would be if we told the truth. My people were peaceful, but I still didn't know what would happen.
'All right. Thank you.' I looked out the window. The sky over Stars was overcast, as usual. Then I turned to Duncan. There was only one thing I really wanted to hear about.
'Um. Is there any news about…'
I saw the answer in Duncan's face.
'…Roselia?'
Sadly, Duncan shook his head. 'I'm sorry, sir. There's no trace of her.'
As I expected. I sighed heavily and leaned back in my chair, feeling very sore and tired.
'Is there anything else?'
'Not really. All the leaders but Queen Mortea have gone home. She said she had a few loose ends to wrap up. Official condolences have been released. The Story family of Gaimet and the Early family of Cran's Nest sent personal messages for you.' He handed two letters to me.
'Send a thank-you to everyone. I'll read these messages later.'
'Will do, sir.' Duncan stood up and prepared to leave.
'Thank you, Duncan. I cannot express just how grateful I am. I don't know what I'd do without you.'
Duncan smiled. 'Of course, sir.' He bowed. I nodded in return. Then he left.
Everything went downhill from there.
I had decided to try to get things as back to normal as I could. I had a country to rule; sitting around worried and heartbroken wasn't going to cut it. The cleanup from the Faire was only one of many things that needed dealing with. I got up that morning at my usual time and went to work just like I always did. But around noon a messenger entered my study and said that the Council of Advisors had called an emergency meeting, which I was to report to immediately.
'What? What's wrong?' I asked.
'I'm sorry, Your Highness. I am simply to relay the message that there is a meeting. Nothing more.'
I glanced up at Duncan, who had been standing next to me as we went over some papers in my study. He looked grim.
'Well… All right. Thank you. Please tell them that I'll be there as soon as possible.'
The messenger bowed and hurried out.
I sighed. 'What do you think, Duncan?'
'Nothing good, sir,' he said uneasily, staring after the messenger.
'…I agree.'
Within twenty minutes I was in the hall where the council met. I had barely been introduced to them all when the Stars representative spoke up, going straight to business.
'Your Majesty, the people have brought it to our attention their concerns over your recent accident.'
'Oh. That's very kind of them,' I said, nervous.
She was not amused. 'What I mean by this is that the truth of the matter has been uncovered.'
Suddenly I felt cold. 'What?'
The representative of Halfacre leaned forward. 'A very reliable source has made it publicly known the events surrounding this so-called "accident". The people are very concerned and demanded we meet with you right away.'
Starnge, representative of Firefly, was the one Advisor who was reelected. He was a good man I had known for years; he was my instructor in magic.
He looked around at us all. 'What are you talking about? I have heard nothing of this. My people have expressed no "concerns" other than for His Majesty's well-being and the safe return of Princess Roselia.'
'What are you talking about?' I tried to play dumb. 'It was an, um… carriage accident.'
'Allow me to be frank, Your Highness,' the Stars representative began. 'No, it was not. You had a fight with a perfectly innocent young woman and, we have been told, hurt her quite badly. She fought back, thus your injuries.'
'If you ask me, you deserve every bruise you were given for hurting a girl in such a way,' the Clocks representative grumbled.
I was shocked. 'What?!'
'Who was this girl, anyway?' the woman from Secrets asked. 'Where did she come from?'
'I-'
The man from Long Summer cut me off. 'Was it the Princess?!'
Gasps and cries came from the representatives. 'Oh my!' 'It probably was!' 'That's why she disappeared the same night!'
'No!!' I shouted. They silenced. 'No, it wasn't the Princess. I hadn't seen her for days up to that point. It wasn't her.'
'Then who was it?!'
'Everyone just stop!' the Firefly representative cried. 'You all have no right to speak to your king like this.'
'If he is guilty of this crime, then he will be spoken to as a criminal,' the Stars woman said.
'What crime? Until we know for sure what happened, you cannot accuse His Majesty of anything. Where are you people getting this outrageous story from, anyway?'
A few of the Advisors glanced at one another, then looked to their colleague. 'Her Royal Highness, Queen Mortea of Jasmineer.'
'Oh, my…' Duncan had said that the people from Aria were going to keep quiet. He'd said nothing about Queen Mortea.
'She's still in Labyrinne, correct? Bring her here. I want to hear these accusations straight from her own lips,' the Firefly representative demanded.
Queen Mortea arrived surprisingly quickly. She didn't look at me, her dark face absolutely serene.
'Queen Mortea,' Starnge of Firefly said, standing to face her. 'These people claim you have told them- and the public of Labyrinne- a very disturbing story, which you claim our king's involvement in.'
'I do, Your Honor. I was witness to a series of events which were covered up by His Majesty King Arthur. The other witnesses promised to keep quiet, but I made no such promise. At first I thought to myself that I, too, would forget it ever happened. But I could not forget, and the more I thought about it, the more troubled I was by this injustice. So I broke my silence.'
Now she looked straight at me. 'Hopefully His Majesty will confess and be punished. I hate to see such a wrong done to an innocent girl.'
The Advisors broke into a great uproar, but Starnge silenced them. 'All right. What events are these you speak of?'
Queen Mortea told of the events of that night, beginning with the Early's supper and ending with my bed rest. When she had finished her story, Starnge turned to me. 'Is this true, Your Highness?'
I looked at my lap. '…Yes, Your Honor.'
Again the hall broke into an uproar of voices. Again Starnge silenced. 'Well, Your Majesty.' I saw how he avoided looking at me. 'This is very serious.'
'Yes,' I said, jumping to defend myself. 'But I swear to you, any fighting I did was in self-defense. I did not throw the first hit.'
He looked to Queen Mortea. She shrugged. 'I did not see them fight; only before and after. But they spoke briefly before of dreams…'
'What does that mean?' Starnge asked, but it appears the other advisors were done letting him control the meeting.
'Who was this girl, Your Highness?!' someone shouted.
'Where did she come from? Why did you fight?' Halfacre asked.
It turned into a free-for-all, the Advisors all shouting their own questions and not waiting for an answer before they shouted another. My one ally, old Starnge, also jumped into the fray, trying to quiet them all once again but not succeeding. Mortea and I were islands of silence in their sea of sound.
Finally, it became apparent that I was not answering any of their questions. Slowly the Advisors' voices died down to a low, gossipy murmur. When she felt she could be heard, Queen Mortea spoke up.
'I suggest you save your questions for a later date. This is but a meeting. To truly get to the bottom of this, a trial is needed.'
'That's a grand idea, Your Ladyship,' Stars said, looking down her nose at me. My face burned with shame. 'The sooner the better. How about tomorrow morning?'
Starnge began to protest, but now Stars was the one silencing him. 'Do the other Advisors agree? Tomorrow, a trial to get to the bottom of this?'
All but Starnge raised their hand without hesitation.
'Tomorrow it is, then.'
'I shall gather the other witnesses,' Queen Mortea said coolly. Then she turned to me. 'I am sorry, Your Majesty, but the cat is out of the bag.' She bowed and left.
This, apparently, was the end of the meeting. Steadily the other advisors departed until only old Starnge and I were alone.
I looked up at him, my face still flushed. 'Thank you, Your Honor.'
Without looking at me, he bowed.  Then he turned and walked out, leaving me alone in the hall.
Shortly thereafter I was back in my study with Duncan. Everything was official: tomorrow morning I was to go on trial.
The scene: me sitting miserably at my desk while Duncan paced back and forth in front of the window. I wished with all my heart that Roselia was there.
'They can't do this,' Duncan would murmur occasionally, followed perhaps by a curse word or two. I had never seen him like this. It disturbed me.
'They can, Duncan. They are,' I moaned.
'It's that Mortea!' he finally said, coming to a halt. 'She planned this. It's too coincidental. She-'
'Duncan!' I stopped him. 'Please stop. Even if it wasn't disrespectful to speak of someone- let alone a foreign monarch- that way, I have much to thank Queen Mortea for. We couldn't have made it through my injuries without her.'
I sighed. 'I'm sure her heart's in the right place.'
'All right, sir. You're correct about some things, and I'm sorry. But I doubt her heart's got anything to do with it.'
'Oh, come on-'
The look on his face was sad when he said, 'Arthur, you are a kind fellow. You're honest. Sometimes I think too much so.'
'…What does that mean?'
Duncan looked at me. Then he looked away, rubbing his eyes. 'Be honest at the trial tomorrow. Just tell the truth. You didn't actually break any laws or anything, so they cannot can punish you. I don't even know what the stupid trial's for.'
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what was happening. The future had looked so bright, and then it all disappeared in the blink of an eye. I just wanted it back.
'Sir? Did you hear me?'
'Hm? Yes, sorry. I just… I don't know.'
We were quiet a while. 'I wish that fire had never happened.'
'Sorry, sir?' Duncan looked up from his own thoughts.
I sat up. 'The Great Fire. If it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't be here. My father would still be King. Or maybe James would. In any case, this never would've happened.'
'Sir…' Duncan looked concerned. He sat down in front of me. 'What's happened has happened, and it does no one any good to wish it had gone differently.'
'I know. But I still wish.'
He looked out the window. 'I do, too.'
Continuation of my novella. Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it! Please, share your thoughts. Feedback is greatly appreciated. :D

Part one: [link]
Previous: [link]
Next: [link]

The story is also up on FictionPress, although in shorter pieces. It's current with what I have here: [link]

Commoner Knowledge, all its characters, settings, etc belong to me, Marty Burton, 2009-2012.
© 2012 - 2024 MartyWitch
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