Heir to the Throne

by Andrew G. Wood

  Loretta stood up and returned her blade to its sheath, ensuring it was hidden from view, although not fully replenished, her body now had strength enough to move about freely without the fear of her collapsing in a heap. With her movements restricted to the back alleyways, she now needed to find out where the boy prince was being kept and when he was likely to make an appearance. Hearing that he was due to meet the lesser nobles of Brenthellin seemed like a good opportunity if only she could think of a way to manipulate the occasion.

  Knowing she would never get close enough to the boy to inflict any personal injury herself, Loretta knew that her best way would be to get someone else to do it. While that might yet require a further sacrifice, it wasn't anything Loretta was overly concerned with. Firstly, she needed to find out the times and location of this meeting, and suss out her best chance of success. Killing the prince here might even help her family’s cause in other ways. Not only would it stop the lesser nobles joining his cause, but being killed while in Lord Romley’s care might also have a detrimental effect on the main noble houses of the realm. Perhaps, with a little luck, they might start pointing the finger of blame at each other, and there was yet a chance that the Elthan family might be successful. However, if that were the case, Loretta intended it to be her pulling the strings, and not her brother. She was no longer doing this for his benefit, and although she still loved him dearly, there was no way he could be forgiven for killing Sharice.

  In the mayor’s house, Luca and the others had been given some light lunch, before their meeting later in the afternoon. Lord Romley had checked in on them, mainly to see if Nerina was well, but also to inform Luca that security had been stepped up.

  “If she is here in Greensill, Sire, there is no way she is getting close to you,” Lord Romley had told them, evidently confident that his preparations were enough to keep Luca protected from harm. Under normal circumstances that might have been the case, but being as they were dealing with somebody a little extraordinary, things were not so straightforward.

  Knowing they didn’t have long, before the meeting, the group of youngsters quickly ate the food they were given, if only to build up their own strength, and discuss their final plans. Nerina was going to use her own skills to try and locate the witch and describe her to Edward and Samuel, who were then going to track her down and kill her. While Luca wanted some part to play in this, it was quickly evident that the others were not going to allow him to do so. Although feeling somewhat excluded, even a little annoyed that was the case, Luca knew why they were doing it. He just wished as it was his life they were all trying to save, they would let him be part of it. Yet despite his pleas, none of them was willing to listen.

  Luca watched as Nerina sat upright in a chair. Her eyes were closed, and the level of concentration on her face was quite visible to see. Although he could hear her uttering words softly to herself, Luca had no idea what she was saying, and although he would like to have known, thought it a question best left for another time. Edward watched on from the side, and felt a slight chill in his body as Nerina started using magic. Unsure as to whether this was normal or not, he kept quiet and allowed Nerina to do her work without interruption.

  Luca wasn’t certain, but he also thought a strange feeling in the room, and despite it being a little unnerving at the start, he somehow felt okay about it. It was a feeling of happiness and complete serenity as if all the bad vibes were being pushed aside and only good was left within. Again he kept his own observation to himself.

  “I’ve found her!” Nerina suddenly said in words Luca could understand.

  “She’s hiding in an alleyway, just across the street from the town hall,” Nerina told them.

  “I have a better idea…” Luca said, darting off for the door before any of the others could stop him.

  Bounding down the stairs two and three at a time, Luca headed for the main entrance, catching the guards on duty by surprise.

  “Find me Lord Romley…now…tell him I need to see him immediately!” Luca said catching his breath.

  One of the guards had already gone running off by the time Edward had managed to catch up with Luca.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Not allowing you to put yourselves at risk for me!” Luca replied, all the time keeping his eyes peeled for Lord Romley.

  Thankfully it took only a few moments and Luca was glad to see the message had been received and treated with the urgency it deserved.

  “Is there a problem, Sire…You really should be inside,” Lord Romley told him.

  Luca didn’t argue and stepped back in through the open doorway. However, before Lord Romley could say another word, Luca quickly explained what he knew.

  “Now please don’t ask how I know, but Lord Romley’s sister is skulking in an alleyway opposite the town hall. Have your guards approach from each end, and we could trap her.”

  Lord Romley looked somewhat amazed at the revelation, but didn’t ask stupid questions or delay any more than those few seconds. Turning about, he quickly rushed back outside and called over to a group of soldiers to follow him. Luca stood back in the doorway and watched as the nobleman headed off out of sight.

  Heading back indoors, Luca finally felt his nerves getting the better of him and could feel his hands shaking and his chest thumping.

  “What did you do that for?” Edward asked clearly not best pleased. Luca didn’t reply but moved back up the stairs at a much more steady pace than that with which he had darted down them. Edward trudged up alongside him still grumbling under his breath. Luca had already decided he wasn't going to answer the question again, at least not until they were back in the bedroom with Nerina and Samuel, and Edward had calmed down.

  By the time Luca had returned, Nerina was standing over by the window just gazing out of it. Samuel was sat on the edge of the bed and looked up as he noticed Luca and Edward coming back.

  “I’ve had Lord Romley try and hunt her down…Don’t worry, I haven’t divulged any information.”

  “But what if he asks…and starts questioning how you knew?” Samuel replied, looking somewhat worried and concerned.

  Luca walked over and sat beside him. “I made a promise I would never tell…and I intend to keep that promise.”

  “But Lord Romley might suspect something strange!”

  “And if he does, I’ll tell him it was me that had some kind of hunch…I mean…let’s be honest he is much less likely to question me,” Luca replied.

  Samuel nodded, “I guess so…but I thought we were going to track her down?”

  “So did I!” Edward added somewhat sarcastically.

  Luca sighed, “I know…but I don’t want you putting your lives at risk…I don’t want to lose you,” he said, unsure how that sounded. While Luca felt it was true that the others still thought of him as a brat, he had to admit he cared about them, and the thought of losing them as his friends wasn't something he was willing to risk, something he actually explained to them.

  After his rather sentimental revelation to the other three, even Edward appeared to calm down a little.

  “You know Luca, you’re not that bad either,” Edward eventually replied, sitting down on one of the chairs just across from the bed.

  “From you, Edward, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Luca said with a smile.

  The entire time the three boys were chatting, Nerina remained standing beside the window, fixated on the view outside. However, her eyes were not looking at what lay beyond the glass panes, but using her gift she had her mind focused on the woman several hundred yards from their position.

  Loretta sought to rest a little while. Now she had seen the town hall she had decided upon her plan of action. She would wait until after the prince had spoken to the lesser nobles and make her strike on his way out. Security would be less intense then, as those who aimed to protect him had probably thought their job done. However, before that, she needed to influence the mind of one of the guards and had already sele
cted which one. Only this needed to be done before the meeting, but not being at full strength she needed to leave it for as long as she could to allow her to gain enough power to use her magic and have enough to skulk back into the shadows. The guard she had selected was positioned alone just off from the main street that led to the town hall. She would have him return to his duty and plant the seed in his mind that the prince needed to die once the meeting was over. Loretta grinned to herself, pleased at how ingenious she was at times.

  Huddled and crouched low to remain from the view of the general public, Loretta didn’t hear the groups of soldiers suddenly appear at each end of the alleyway. When she did, it was too late, although she hoped if she remained crouched down they would merely pass her by and assume her some vagrant. Loretta slowly placed her hand inside her cloak, clasping her hand around the dagger she used for her sacrifices. The sound of the soldier’s boots squelching and shuffling through the litter in the alley grew a little louder as the men approached her from both directions. Suddenly the sound stopped and somewhat surprised Loretta lifted her head up to see what was going on. Glancing both ways quickly, spotting that there were at least half a dozen soldiers in each direction.

  “Lady Elthan I presume?” came a rather smug sounding voice. Loretta slowly got to her feet somewhat shocked by being called that name, she looked at who had spoken those words. She had not been referred to as Lady Elthan since before her banishment. Slowly lowering her hood to reveal her face, she looked directly at a middle-aged man staring straight at her.

  “That’s proof enough for me! Arrest her!” The man said.

  Loretta immediately went on the defensive, there was no way they were taking her alive, to be judged and unceremoniously and publically executed anyway.

  Pulling her dagger free, Loretta dived headlong towards the nearest soldier on her right, catching him unawares and slashing across his throat.

  Loretta may have been a woman, and physically inferior to the soldiers penning her in, but she was no easy target. With one man already down, Loretta called upon the shadows to aide her, using what magical strength she had left to make good an escape. A second soldier froze to the spot, before turning and attacking the man next to him. Lunging past the next there were just two more to go, and Loretta had a means of escape. Uttering another spell, she moved as if a shadow as a soldier’s sword came to strike her down. Instead, the blade merely drifted through her as if parting smoke, and thinking she was all but free, Loretta lunged her dagger towards the last man in her way.

  Loretta Elthan felt her blade catch the soldier and with her momentum, she carried on a few steps further. However, before she reached the end of the alley, she felt her legs give way underneath her. She was certain she had not been struck by any blade, but something was attacking her. A strange feeling, some type of magical force weighing her down, making her unable to move, and with little magical strength left she had no power to fight it. A bright light filled her mind almost blinding her as she felt her body drop to the floor, the pressure upon it almost unbearable when she felt a searing pain strike through her back.

  Lord Romley was stunned, to see just how one woman had almost managed to get past six of his highly trained soldiers. Yet the woman had apparently used up the last of her energy as she squirmed on the ground. Lord Romley pushed the blade of his sword in a little harder until he was certain it had passed right through the body. Uncertain as to whether witches could even be killed with a blade, he quickly ordered two more of his men to his side.

  “Remove her head…burn her….cordon off this alley and see there is nothing left of her but ashes!” he ordered felling quite sickened by what he had just witnessed. Magic was certainly a dark power that needed to be dealt with severely. Thankfully, there were laws in place to allow him to do just that.

  In the bedroom, Nerina let out a loud gasp. Luca was first to her aid as he spotted her wobbling slightly on her feet.

  “Hey…What’s up? Are you okay?” he asked, placing his hands under her arms to stop her from keeling over. However, as strong as he thought he was, actually holding Nerina up as a dead-weight was much harder than he had presumed. Thankfully, Samuel and Edward were both on hand to assist him, as they carried her over to the bed.

  “She’s dead!” Nerina managed to say, looking up at Luca as he lay her head down on the pillow.

  Luca took Nerina’s hand and held it in his own. Her skin was so soft yet so cold as if all the warmth had been drained from her.

  “What have you done, Nerina?” Samuel asked, with a worried look on his face.

  Nerina, moved her head slightly on the pillow to face her brother and smiled, albeit a hard-forced one.

  “I had to, she was escaping,” Nerina replied before closing her eyes.

  Luca was slightly startled as Samuel suddenly seemed to be in a complete panic.

  “Stupid girl…” he uttered under his breath… “Mother only gave me one potion for you…”

  Without thinking, Luca darted out of the room again, already through the door before Edward had a chance to ask where he was going.

  “Now where’s he going?” Edward grumbled knowing he was duty-bound to follow.

  However, before Edward had reached the top of the stairs, Luca was already on his way back up.

  “Perhaps this will help?” he said, holding the potion bottle the physician had given them earlier.

  Hurrying back into the room, Luca showed Samuel the bottle, “Will this do any good?” he asked more in hope than any real expectation of it actually being of use. Luca was only too aware that many small-town physicians, and many in the capital, often prescribed potions and lotions, none of which actually had any benefit to the patient. From the look on Samuel’s face, Luca quickly realised that he was thinking pretty much the same thing.

  “I suppose it’s worth a try…We have nothing else.”

  Luca pulled the small stopper from the top of the blue glass bottle and lifted it up to Nerina’s mouth while Samuel lifted her head just a little. The effects of the medicine were almost instant, as Nerina’s eyes flickered open and her face resumed its normal colour.

  “Wow…what is that stuff?” Samuel asked, evidently shocked it had actually worked.

  Nerina shuffled back a little, so she was in a seated position as the three young men all looked on.

  “You are a silly girl, Nerina!” Samuel told her, still clearly not happy at something she had done.

  “I had to Samuel…She was getting away.”

  “What did you do?” Luca asked, unsure as to what they were talking about.

  The two siblings looked at each other as if deciding whether or not he should be told before Nerina gave the slightest nod of her head.

  “She used magic she should not…Mother has forbidden it…”

  “I don’t understand,” Luca replied. “Did you use some spell on her or something? I thought you used enchantments. You know plants and herbs and things.”

  Nerina gave a wry smile, and exhaled loudly, knowing she would have to explain herself, if Luca was going to understand. She talked slowly and after glancing up at Edward to make sure he was listening as well she proceeding in her explanation. While placing enchantments on items and making potions was the norm for her, she also had other abilities.

  “Like tracking Lord Elthan’s sister, for example!” Samuel added, somehow feeling he needed to help his sister. Nerina continued the explanation, looking Luca’s direction as she spoke.

  “I have another ability where I can use my own magical force to effect another…only it drains me very quickly…”

  “And could have killed you!” Samuel said angrily, interrupting her one more time.

  “Yes but it didn’t…did it?” Nerina replied.

  “It’s just a good job that potion the physician gave you actually worked…”

  “Yes, I’m a little surprised by that as well,” Nerina admitted.

  Whatever had transpired, Luca could tell that
Samuel was not best pleased with his sister. How the minds of witches worked, he had no idea, but he could tell that Nerina had done something she had been forbidden to do. Not only could Nerina have drained her own life away trying to use such a power, but Samuel had also berated her for another reason. Those witches who practised the darker arts used that type of magic, and human sacrifice to replenish the power it had cost them. Samuel had actually stopped short of telling Nerina that she was no better than Lord Elthan’s sister, but Luca got the impression he was implying as much.

  Regardless of what Nerina had or hadn’t done, Luca still saw her as the same person. Although he would be the first to admit he knew absolutely nothing about witches or the magic they used, other than what little he had read in the books at the palace, he actually felt somehow closer to Nerina than ever before. While it was true he had always liked her, now she was even more special, he felt himself becoming interested in her on a different level.

  It was almost half an hour later when Lord Romley finally returned to give them the news that they already knew. As a result, they all had to act surprised, although the news that three of his men had died in the process did not sit well with Luca. A strange mix of emotions beset him. On the one hand, he was glad that he hadn’t been Samuel or Edward, as it might well have been, but on the other, had he sent innocent men to their deaths instead? Yet, despite the troublesome thoughts, Luca knew if he were asked to pick again, he would not change anything.