Possible Side Effects, Ch. 14

[wanderamaranth]

Possible Side Effects, Ch. 14: The Knights of the Sacred Words

Yes, that means what you think it does. Alice meets the Knights Who Say Ni! I swear it's not crack. Well, maybe a bit crackish. But not completely crack-y. Hopefully it works. Let me know if it's a complete Fail, will you?

"No decisions have to be made in that regard right now." Mirana quickly withdrew her hand from atop the Hatter's, when she didn't immediately receive a gracious welcome to her overture. "And of course, it would be your decision. I would never force you, nor my Champion, in that regard." Mirana's long lashes fluttered shut and she took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she was once more the commanding and confident White Queen, and no longer the timid and apologetic would-be lover.

Smiling gently, she reached out to smooth back some of the Hatter's wiry hair, and was almost successful in hiding her flash of disappointment when he flinched away from her fingers.

"Either way, I hope I am still your friend, Tarrant?" she persisted.

The Hatter stared down at his lap, fingers drifting over the top of the bed cover. He didn't look up at her as he said, woodenly, "I am loyal to Her Majesty and the White Court."

Mirana bowed her head, more pained than she would like to admit at such an impersonal dismissal. Even an outburst of his Badness would have been preferable to the overly-blank calm she received; this made her feel as if her proposition meant little to nothing to him! At least with an angry denial brought on by the Badness, she would know how he felt of the situation. It was one of his most charming and most frustrating characteristics: his emotions were always so close to the surface of his being, that he was hardly able to contain them.

So then what did nothingness mean?

Mirana knew that whatever her friend was thinking, she was not going to be privy to it until he was ready for her to be. (If ever, a voice distressingly like Iracebeth's smirked in her mind, as much as a voice can smirk.)

"The Court treasures your loyalty." Mirana responded in kind. Standing, she curtsied deeply to the Hatter, who continued to sit and stare, not noting her presence at all. "I will leave you now." It was not what she desired to do, not at all, but needs must. Perhaps with a few hours to consider, he would become amenable to the idea?

"Chessur?" she called back, as she exited the room. With obvious reluctance, the Cat looked from her to the Hatter, and back again, before he flattened his ears to his head and floated out after her. "I suppose we have plans to discuss, your Majesty. The Red Royal Children will not find themselves, will they? Although that would be most convenient indeed!"

"Red Royals?" Mally asked after them, scampering to the end of the bed. (And although Mally would be insulted indeed to be thought of as scampering anywhere, it was how she most commonly went from one place to the other.)

"Why, yes!" Chessur replied, as if surprised she wasn't aware of their intent. She had been listening at the door, after all. (Perhaps she wasn't aware, the Cat mused; she had been very worried about the Hatter, and the possibility of him doing anything whatsoever with the Alice that might be considered carnal in nature.)

"Mirana's rather enthusiastic suggestion towards Tarrant is a…what do you say, a last resort…method. If we are able to find those Red Royal children, then they will be the ones to take up the empty Crowns. We really must hope we are able to find at least two or three that are not consumed by blood thirst in a timely manner. Underland is getting impatient with our dear Queen, and would not be pleased at having to wait for a child newly born to reach maturity. It was angry enough at the Big Head for being the single ruler, and is not of a mind to be patient while Mirana fixes things."

"I believe you have said more than enough for one evening, Chessur." Mirana said, kindly yet firmly. She was distressed at more creatures knowing of Underland's edicts to herself than what were strictly necessary; and even though she trusted the Dormouse to a certain extent, she did not believe her knowing of the entirety of the situation to be necessary.

Chessur grimaced in apology to the Mouse, and floated out after the White Queen. She shut the door behind them, and Mally huffed in disgust. Why, she fumed, had she worked so hard to depose one Queen with a high hand in their affairs, just to replace it with another one? Turning, the Mouse trekked back up to the other end of the bed, muttering Outlandish obscenities to herself. A very familiar sardonic voice sounded very close to her ear, yet when she turned, no one was there.

"Listen, Dormouse, I shall return to you and the Hatter later, and speak of all that I am privy to. Please tell Tarrant I am sorry about the rock." Chessur's voice without a body was quiet for a moment, and Mally could have sworn she heard it swallow a bit nervously. "For that and a great many other things." the voice half-whispered, and then was gone.

"Well, I never!" Mally exclaimed. No matter how often the Cat behaved in such a manner, with bits and bobs of him appearing willy-nilly, the Dormouse feared she would never get used to it.

****

There was not much Alice could say to such a sight as Stayne kneeling before her, so she said nothing at all. He rose, and Alice gathered Snellum up gently. The mouse whimpered pitifully despite her caution with his broken form. Never before had Alice honestly hated someone, but in that moment she believed she was capable of it. There had been no discernable reason for the Knave to behave in such a way to the defenseless creature; he'd simply done it for the joy of being a bully, to herself and the Mouse. Or worse, as a means of controlling her actions--either reason was unacceptable.

"I am sorry you suffered on my behalf, friend." Alice whispered to Snellum, smoothing the fur in between his eyes. "Let me improvise a bed for you, and you may ride in my arm's sling." It was the most secure spot she could think of on short notice, unless she had Stayne carry him. She wasn't about to do that, no matter the oath the man had just sworn at her feet.

Stomach churning at the so-recent memory, Alice walked over to her pack, where she extracted her lone chemise. (She wasn't sure why she'd packed the nightwear, as there was no proper place for them to rest for at nights, and thus no real reason for her to wear nightclothes; but habits die hard, and she'd always packed nightclothes. It had felt odd to plan a trip, even on the spur of the moment, without including the chemise in those plans.) It was lucky that she had felt such a way, at least for Snellum in that time, as she was able to rip it in half with her good hand and her teeth, fold it and then pad the simple sling Stayne had made for her arm.

Alice felt the Knave's eyes on her as she did this, and how his gaze tracked her when she tried to casually place the inlaid box in the chemise's former place in her pack.

"Let us go then." he'd said, when she was done, and again, nothing much more was spoken between the pair after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Snellum snored softly in the crook of Alice's arm, and she stepped lightly, so as not to jostle him. She knew from experience how much that ached when one was already injured, and had no desire to exasperate his pain.

Perhaps half a day had passed of their near silent trudge through the Tulgey Woods (with Alice and Stayne both thinking similarly circular thoughts involving Queens, the Box in Alice's pack, and the wisdom of their respective actions) when Stayne called for them to stop. Alice was secretly relieved at this, as she was feeling ill indeed, but had been too prideful to call for a halt on her own behalf.

"Soon we will be upon the Knights I spoke of to you while we traveled through the Outlands." Stayne said, watching Alice carefully as she leaned against a tree, her exhaustion clear to him. Darker than normal circles hung under her eyes, and a slight tremor shook her shoulders. What she most needed (besides to be cured of her ailment) was a decent rest, but that was unlikely event until they reached Marmoreal. The Knave still had a difficult time believing he was actually taking her there as opposed to elsewhere (somewhere much less full up of Queens and distracting Hatters) yet knew that if he did not, there would be no Alice to scheme about at all.

"And we can trade the shrubbery for horses?" she asked, a wistful longing in her voice. She was heartily sick of walking.

"With luck." Stayne acknowledged. "Most hopefully, they have not completed the garden path expansion they were working on the last time I ventured through the Wood."

After a few more moments, during which Stayne stared at Alice (which made her uncomfortable indeed) and Alice acted as though she did not notice Stayne staring at her whilst she rested, they continued on their way. It was not very long at all when a man whom would have seemed very tall, had Alice not been traveling with the Knave, jumped out before them in the path.

"Halt! Who goes there?" he asked imperiously, and Alice withheld a giggle at the high-pitched tone coming out of such a large body.

The Knave stepped ahead of Alice, partially shielding her from the view of the Knight. "Ilosovic Stayne, formerly of the Red Court, lately in the service of Her Majesty Queen Alice."

"Queen Alice?" asked the Knight. "Never heard of her!" Several other (rather shorter) Knights came out of the Wood and surrounded their tallest member. Alice took in their poorly constructed helmets and long scraggily mustaches with fascination. Although they were all varying heights, they looked as though they were the same persons. If they were to come upon her separately, and she had not seen them assembled thus, she would have easily believed they were the same person, playing a joke on her involving pishalver and upelkuchen.

"Never heard of her?" Stayne snorted. He knew it was ridiculous to be insulted, as Alice was so recently re-crowned, and it not being in the usual manner of Crownings in Underland (which involved lots of processions and speechifying and other nonsense), yet another part of him felt as if they were deliberately slighting he and his Monarch.

"Indeed not!" the Head Knight huffed. "Yet Royalty has never mattered muchly to the Knights of the Sacred Words. As the Keepers of the Sacred Words, we demand a sacrifice before you pass! We require…" and here the Knight paused, as if what he would say cause great dread, "a shrubbery!"

"Shall this one suffice?" Stayne threw the wrapped bundle containing the Outlandish shrubbery at the Knight's feet. The Head Knight blinked rapidly. "Rather efficient of you." he praised, and then said to his brethren, in sotto voice, "Are we perhaps becoming too predictable?"

"But the path! The path!" the shorter Knights squeaked, and Alice was not able to contain her giggles any longer as the Head Knight nodded and said, "Too true." He turned his attention to her for the first time, and said, in a seemingly random manner, "Ni!"

Stayne cringed, but Alice just looked from the Knave to the Knights with confusion. The Head Knight regarded her with equal bewilderment, and said again, in a more forceful manner, "Ni!" All the Knights followed suit. Stayne cowered lower, and Alice continued to stand there, unaffected by whatever was bothering the man.

"I believe the question was, sir, if this shrubbery would do." Alice told the Knight, as she thought perhaps there had been a misunderstanding. She was very tired, and simply wanted for her small party to be on their way. "What do you think of it?"

She was amazed when a rapid change of demeanor overcame all of those assembled. Where Stayne had been the one cowering before, it was now the Knights who trembled and shook. The Knave stood slowly, watching the Knights with a predatory expression. He wasn't certain what Alice had done to them to make them so, but he liked it, and wished for her to do it again. "Perhaps you had better repeat yourself, Your Highness?" he said smarmily.

This Idea seemed to horrify the Knights. "Speak not, cruel Queen!" moaned the Head Knight, and the others would have surely lent their voices in agreement, had they been able to stop shaking and moaning long enough to do so.

Poor Alice hadn't wanted to cause the Knights any suffering; she said, in what she believed to be a conciliatory manner, "All I wanted to know was if it was sufficient!"

Her only answer was more groaning and cringing. Alice looked over at Stayne, to ask what was occurring, but he was too busy smirking at the Knights to notice her questioning glance. She tried again.

"May we trade you supplies for it?"

By now the Knights were veritably sobbing at her feet. "Take whatever you wish, simply speak that word no more!"

Despite the horror of the Idea that she was unwittingly causing the Knights pain, Alice began to feel her anger bubble. "It's not as though I can stop saying a word if I don't know what it is!"

Any anger she may have felt beginning to rise towards the Knights was extinguished after this speech, as even the Head Knight stopped being able to speak to her, and just lay upon the ground, crying piteously. She went to him, holding out her hands (as she was going to attempt to comfort him) and he crawled away from her, as best he could while fully prostrate upon the ground.

"Keep speaking." the Knave said just above her ear, and Alice turned to look at him, her fury finding a new outlet. Her eyes glared at him, but Stayne was used to dealing with temperamental Queens, and simply said, before she could begin a tirade, "I shall gather what we need, and we will leave the shrubbery here as payment. The sooner I can do so, the sooner we can remove you from their presence."

The Knave turned about and lost no Time in rummaging about their possessions. Alice stood in silence for a few moments, rage and fear equally causing tears to shimmer in her eyes. Stayne may have told her to keep speaking, but she was not the sort of person who enjoyed watching others suffer, and something she was saying was obviously making the Knights miserable.

They began to stir as she continued to hold her tongue, the Head Knight recovering first. Alice went to him, kneeling down. "I am sorry, sir." she said, carefully. "I know not what was said that distressed you so."

"You are a cruel Queen." the Knight said, "Intentionally or not."

Alice sat back on her rump at this statement, the tears that had merely been threatening to fall before coming freely now. "I do not want to be!" Her shoulders shook, and pain radiated from her broken arm at the motion. "I do not want to be a Queen at all! Whatever does that even mean?"

The Knight sat up fully then, and eyed her with renewed interest, yet did not speak. A reluctant Monarch was a novelty in Underland. The Knight explained to her the dreaded two-lettered Word, and Alice promised to avoid the use of the Word in their presence. Several other pleasanter topics were discussed, until the Knave came back to them. He led two horses, and had a knapsack brimming with miscellany in his other fist. What appeared to be a new sword, fitted for the Head Knight, if the length of the blade was anything to go by, was strapped to his side.

The shorter Knights were just beginning to come to; Alice wanted to be away from the camp before they awoke, in case they were less understanding than her current conversational companion. "May we borrow these mounts and supplies?" she asked, and the Knight waved it away, as if the valuable items meant nothing to him.

"Think of them as our Crowning Tithe." the Knight said, and Alice saw the Knave start a bit, before his features melted into the blandest possible expression they could. She would have to pester him about what that meant, then. Later, away from the Knight who already thought of her as "charmingly ignorant".

"Thank you, good sir." Alice stood on feet gone numb, wobbling a bit before finding her footing. She curtsied as well as she could, and then she and the Knave went on their way.

Having nearly forgotten about the Mouse in her sling, Alice was a bit startled by the yawn that issued forth from it, but had recalled Snellum's presence by the time he spoke. "Oh, it feels late! I have slept simply so long." He rustled about, crawling his way past chemise scraps and the wrap of the sling until he was able to see Alice. Blinking groggily, he said, "So what did I miss, whilst sleeping?"

****

"I do not blame you, sweet child, for vanquishing me. Not in the slightest. You were doing what was needful. I can appreciate that more than most would." The Jabberwocky's long tongue flicked out, wiping a small trail of snot away from his nostrils. "But did you have to cut off my tongue? That speaks of a more personal grudge. And tongues are so useful. They help me annunciate words, yes, but also assist me in tasting the air and directional balance. I was very nearly blind without it!"

"I'm sorry." Alice said, and was then surprised she could speak at all. It had been force of habit that had her even attempting to speak at all; she felt as though she was in the dreamscape where she should not have been able to…

The Jabberwocky snickered, her thoughts clear to the creature. "My brother is not present currently, to limit our interaction, my dear. I was never the one to Bind you here; it was he."

Not even considering to pretend that she knew of what the beast spoke, Alice said, in a soft voice with wide eyes, "I don't know what you mean, umm..." Her voice trailed off, as she was uncertain how one should address a dragon-like creature you had slayed at the behest of a Queen. Saying simply 'Jabberwocky' seemed a bit impertinent, and Alice certainly did not wish to sound so to him, not when he was in such a forgiving and, disturbingly, alive mood.

"Please, just call me Jabber. It is my name, after all." A large grin that Alice supposed was meant to be genial crossed his face, and Alice smiled weakly back.

They were back on the battlefield of the Frabjous Day, atop the crumbling tower from which Alice had beheaded him in a stroke of pure luck. The sky was orange-pink above them. Sitting side by side, as calm as could be, they would have appeared to an outside viewer to be friends. Jabber wound his tail around Alice, and pulled her slightly closer to himself.

She was not wearing the Vorpal Armor; rather she was dressed in her engagement party dress, as it had been after she'd crawled back out of the rabbit hole, torn and dirty and missing the few bits that she'd used to dress herself while Under.

"Is this not pleasant, you and I sitting in such an attitude?"

An expectant expression entered Jabber's eyes, and the hood around his head unfurled, reminding Alice of a Naja Atra snake, a most unusual hooded creature she encountered on her journey in the Orient. (Although the Jabberwocky's hood was much larger than that of the Naja, naturally, him being so much larger than the snake she saw. She believed she was the only one of her party's English counterparts that did not nearly faint away in fright at the hapless reptile!)

"It is a small type of accomplishment, I suppose." Alice conceded.

"A small type of accomplishment!" The hood that had been so intimidating moments before was suddenly retracted, and a small whapping sound was heard as it smacked against the sides of Jabber's head. "Fragile flower, do you know to which the lengths I have gone to ensure this discussion? How often I attempted to gain your sweet attention, to hear your dulcet tones? A small accomplishment indeed."

How sensitive all the creatures of Underland were! Alice wanted to snap at Jabber, but thought better of it, being face to face with his sharp teeth and powerful jaws. (Not to mention that the being with which she spoke should have, for all intents and purposes, ceased to have a consciousness, at least on this plane of existence, depending on what one believed. But then again, they were not currently in the realm of reality while here, were they? It made Alice's head swim, and she pushed aside the theological implications for her more immediate concerns.) Politeness in this instance seemed the most prudent course.

"What was it you wished to discuss with me, Jabber?"

A simpering pout crossed his already thin lips. "So business-like. So formal. I know you so intimately, and you treat me as a stranger. Oh, la! I guess to you, I am!" The mood of the beast changed rapidly to a manic type of joy, and even Alice, who craved madness, found herself having a difficult time keeping up. She just hoped she didn't anger him too greatly while they were…like this, doing whatever they were doing.

Did one die in reality if they died in a dream?

"Oh my, oh me, silly child! I wouldn't kill you! Why, that would be just like killing myself!" Jabber sounded honestly off-put by the idea. A giggle crossed his lips, and a small bolt of energy escaped at the same time. A turn of the head to one side was necessary so Alice was not incinerated by the errant release.

"It would be killing myself, come to think of it! And here I just almost did so accidentally! That would be awkward indeed to explain at the Crossroads, what with me just recently coming back from there to begin with. I'd have to start all over again, and how the Gatekeepers would laugh at me!"

The tail that had curled around Alice to bring her closer drifted down to rest a bit suggestively on her lap, the tip trailing down towards her knees and tickling the backs there. "That is neither here nor there, though."

"Just where is here, as opposed to there?" Alice asked.

"Clever boots!" chortled the Jabberwocky. "You haven't figured it out yet, but you will. I've given you all the pieces. I'm sorry to say you won't like but you find, but I most assuredly do."

"You're responsible for the dreams I've had? Of the Red Queen, and Stayne?" Jabber looked pleased when she tentatively said this, so she supposed that must be true. "And for the ones with Chessur and…the Hatter?"

At that moment Alice was very much afraid that all she had dreamt of the Hatter was a delusion of her mind, or a taunting trick of the Jabberwocky, out to torment the one whom destroyed him. However, the creature looked just as alarmed as she felt.

"Chessur? That interfering, goodie-goodie, high-tail waving busybody? Even if I had the ability to transmogrify myself, I wouldn't chose the form he did. I never have shown myself to you as he. And the Hatter?" a wisp of smoke escaped from Jabber's nostrils, and Alice realized she accomplished just what she wished to avoid: she'd angered the beast.

"Long had I waited to be able to finish the task that bound me to Iracebeth of Crims. It should have been a simple one! Destroy every member of the Clan Hightopp, and then I would be an agent of myself again. Yet he, he eluded me, and the spears of the Red Guard! And as long as he lived, I was sworn to obey that loathsome woman. Imagine my despair when I discovered he lived still, and Iracebeth refused to tell me where he could be found! For that was her plan all along, I discovered; allow one Hightopp to live, to have Dominion over me." He snorted. "I suppose I should have expected no less from a mistress in the art of Dominion Over Living Things."

"Does that mean no?" Alice asked, wishing she could scoot away from Jabber. He really was frightening, especially in this mood.

"That means a most adamant no, dear heart." Jabber visibly calmed himself. "My brother was the one to Bind your actions during our visits. Most annoying. I should have liked for you to be able to interact in them a bit, you know. What is the good in having a visitor if they are unable to speak to you? He didn't even allow you to interact with the visions I showed you of what could be! Most singularly rude. And as far as the Hightopp…"

Jabber looked away from Alice then, his eyes narrowing even more than they were naturally, and two plumes of smoke escaped from his nostrils. "He would at best be a distraction from what I intend, sweetling, and at worst…" A clawed hand waved the air as he searched for the words, before he finally settled with, "I was not aware you had seen him recently at all. That must cease. I will have to have further words with my brother. His boorishness has gone on quite enough, and I am most ready to be out of this none-living space and have a bit of fun."

The ground rumbled beneath them, and Jabber sighed. "There he is now. You know, you are quite distracting, little one. Got me to talking, just like an old washer-woman." A smile curled up the edges of his reptilian mouth. "I am most glad that we are able to interact thus, do not misunderstand me! It will make what's to come ever so much more bearable for the both of us." He sighed when another tremor rocked the ground, causing bits of the tower they sat upon to crumble.

That tongue that Alice had severed licked the side of her face, an almost playful gesture. "Until later, then, plum blossom? I do believe my brother wishes to scold me."

Alice woke with a start, lungs heaving in an attempt to get more air. Snellum lay curled up by her head. (He said, that although he had slept most of the day away, he was tired still, and did not oppose the idea of sleeping more still. Alice wondered if it was a trait of all Mice in Underland to be sleepy, or just the ones of her acquaintance.)

The fire between where she slept and the Knave rested was burning low, little more than ashes now. Stayne was by her side in a moment, concern written in the puckered tension around his scars. "Your Majesty? What is amiss?"

Several times throughout the previous day Alice had attempted to get Stayne to call her anything but "Your Majesty" to no avail. She wanted to tell him that she was still Alice, once again, but knew it to be a lost cause.

They had made what was to be hopefully their last camp for the night just outside of the perimeters of the Knight's enclave. The Knights had nervously offered up use of their own camp to 'Queen Alice and her retinue', but Alice still had their shrill cries of 'Cruel Queen Alice' in her ears, and felt unequal to their hospitality.

"Just a dream." she said, knowing it wasn't strictly true as she said it. "A dream, nothing more." She smiled without feeling it, and the Knave returned her smile, though his was more true. "Onward to Marmoreal?" she asked.

"Indeed." the Knave confirmed.

****

Iracebeth picked up her skirt with her available hand and bowed deeply, smiling at the female courtier that nearly ran her over in the hallway. (Really, it wasn't as if she were not visible, with her hair color and abundant cranium! It was an obvious cut.) Mentally adding the woman to her List of Those to be Executed at the Earliest Possible Convenience, she continued on her way, and the courtier none the wiser as to the former Queen's temper.

"Insignificant, sycophantic mollycoddler. Full of pluck after I've been humiliated now, are you?" Iracebeth hissed under her breath, a smile not unlike her sister's plastered vapidly across her face. The lack of color in Marmoreal was starting to make her crazy. She lightly fingered the bottom of her stump, which she'd taken to slicing small cuts into when she was in the privacy of her quarters, just so the small drops of blood that would form there would be a relief to the endless lack of color. (Even her own clothing was made of sparkling White, which Iracebeth loathed to a degree she was previously unaware she could loathe something inanimate at.) It was either that, or seek out the Hatter and the Dormouse (as they were the only individuals in Marmoreal whom did not conform to the White Code) and she was not as crazy as all that. Not yet.

If she stayed in this white tomb much longer, though, she feared she would be. Would they welcome her at their tea table?

"No wonder Miri thinks me mad, with ideas such as those." fussed Iracebeth, bowing once more to another courtier in the hallway. She had not spoken low that time, but rather in a normal tone. Her smile was still in place, however, and the courtiers were beginning to become used to Iracebeth's presence, and her tendency to talk to herself. Many agreed it was the unfortunate result of being Banished, never mind that the former Queen only actually spent six or so days in that Banished state, and that is not long enough for such a habit to be formed.

When she went to stand once again, Iracebeth wobbled and had to hold the wall for support, so she didn't topple over due to the imbalance caused by her bulbous head. Now that one was gone, she appreciated how much the use of both of her arms had assisted her in maintaining her balance.

"Lady Iracebeth!" A jovial voice called out behind her, and the woman rolled her eyes before turning her face just enough to acknowledge her addresser. It was Sausage-Tree Man (an unfortunate moniker if there ever was one, but the courtier had established himself for no other reason in Iracebeth's view as of yet, so Sausage-Tree Man it would be, for now).

Taking her under her whole arm, the courtier helped her to regain her footing, and instead of simply bowing and smiling away from her after done, as she expected, the fop tucked it into his own, and began walking her out towards the sugar-plum and candied-cherry grove.

She waited until they were outside and under the shade of a sickeningly-sweet fragranced sugar-plum tree (and such patience she commended herself for exceedingly) before she said, "Yes?" The demand and inquiry were clear in her voice.

"Your Ladyship." the courtier half bowed, and Iracebeth waved her hand at him in a 'hurry-it-up' manner. She was not one to stand on courtesy when something large was obviously afoot.

A bit disappointed that his intelligence gathering would not be treated with more pomp and circumstance, the courtier never-the-less conceded to the large-headed woman's demand. "It has come to my attention, your Majesty, through carefully listening to the bedchamber Doors, that your sister, the White Queen, is attempting to find successors to the vacant Crowns of Underland." He puffed up a bit after saying so, self-importance oozing out of his pores.

"Is she now? Silly creature." Iracebeth scoffed. "The only way she'd be able to fill them is with someone of a Royal bloodline." Pausing, a horrible suspicion overcame her, but she waited for the courtier to confirm it.

"It is said she intends to fill them with the Lost Children of Crims." Sausage-Tree Man said carefully. "And if that fails…" he trailed off, and Iracebeth looked to him sharply. He rallied, and said, "If that fails, she intends to produce heirs to fill the Crowns herself."

"This must not be allowed to come to pass." Iracebeth said, voice low. "You know what I will require?"

Swallowing in a combination of nerves and anticipation, Sausage-Tree Man nodded. "I and those that stand with me shall assist you, your Ladyship."

Nodding in approval, Iracebeth said, "Tomorrow night. Throne room. One of you request an audience with Mirana. The rest distract or subdue those not with us. Leave the rest to me."

"It shall be done." Sausage-Tree Man bowed once again to Iracebeth, adding in a sly voice, "Your Majesty."

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