Toda dropped to his knees and bowed his head to the floor then looked up at the young queen.
“A thousand pardons, Majesty, but I fear your life is in danger.”
Kayla’s torso straightened, “What can you mean?”
“Majesty, High Priest Ickletor intends to abduct you and proclaim himself king following your father’s funeral!”
Kayla glanced at the maid and back at Toda. “This is madness. I’m the queen!”
Toda rose and stepped closer to Kayla.
“I think he has convinced the temple guards he’d be a stronger king than you a queen. If he stations the guards around the perimeter of the funeral events, they could snatch you and whisk you away before anyone could react. Once his armed men are in place, who would dare protest his claim to the throne.”
Kalya pondered what Toda said, “He’s already dared to broach the subject of marriage. I refused him flatly as did my father.”
A knock at the queen’s door ended the conversation abruptly.
“Who is it?”
“The Lord Chamberlain, Majesty”
“I can’t see you right now. Come back later,” Kayla said. The three of them stared at the door; none dared breathe. The sound of receding footsteps ended the suspense. Kalya turned back to Toda, “What do you propose?”
“Forgive me, Majesty, but you must come with me. I must get you out of the palace unseen and away from the city. Ickletor is plotting to take the throne. He will begin moving his forces into place at sunrise. You won’t be able to get out of his sight or grasp then. We must leave at once.”
Kayla looked at Toda like he was mad. She turned to her maid as she evaluated what he’d said.
“Do you believe this?”
Fidgeting, Toda looked to the door hearing a noise. “Majesty, if you remain, Ickletor will force you to marry him to give legitimacy to his claim to the throne. You will disappear soon after. If you escape, no matter his claim, you will still be the queen but independent and able to call on the royal troops to fight him.”
“My father has sent a request to the king of Korkufin that he send one of his sons to be my husband,” Kayla said. “He will rescue me.”
Toda stood tall, resolute, “Ickletor knows of such a request. It’s not likely the Korkufin prince will reach here alive.”
“Gasp!”
“Please, Majesty, We must go now!”
She nodded, “Ickletor is just arrogant and ambitious enough to attempt such a coup.”
She began stripping off her outer garments on the spot. Toda’s eyes bulged. He turned his back. A moment later, the maid dashed past him as a delicate hand grabbed his arm. Kayla, in a dark travel outfit, pulled him trailing her back through the wardrobe room and into the dark corridor following the maid.
*
The chamberlain knocked again on the queen’s door.
“Majesty, I must speak with you. I’ve received a report, insane as it may be, that there is a monstrous beast flying at the western edge of Octar. We must discuss the funeral activities for tomorrow in light of this new development.”
Again there was no reply. The chamberlain turned to the guard at the door.
“Go find one of her maids.” The man saluted and hurried off down the hall.
After what seemed like an interminable length of time, the official, arms crossed and tapping his foot watched the guard return with maid in tow. He gave the sentry a glower and addressed the maid.
“Go in and make sure the queen is okay. If she is presentable, tell her I must see her at once.”
The maid curtsied and entered the queen’s suite. A moment later and she came back out, her eyes wide.
“The queen isn’t in the suite anywhere. She must have gone out unnoticed.”
The chamberlain glared at the guard, “Did Her Majesty leave the suite?
The sentry was most emphatic, “She’s not come through this door, my lord.”
The chamberlain’s heart skipped a beat, “Alert the garrison! Put guards on every entrance. Seal the palace, no one in or out! Find her!”
Both stormed off down the corridors. In no time, the palace was a beehive of activity, servants, and guards racing through the halls.
*
Maid, Kayla, and Toda scrambled through the servant’s halls down through the palace to where Toda had intercepted the maid. They stopped to decide what to do next.
“We must cross this hallway to get to the next passage leading to the sewers,” Toda said.
Kayla’s face scrunched, “The sewers!”
“Majesty, it’s the only way out unseen,” the priest said. “To get to it, we must divert the sentry at the end of the hall.” Toda looked at the maid who blushed in the pale light of the hall. “Think you can hold his attention, my dear?”
All three glanced back behind them when chaotic noises started to hum further back up the hallway.
“They’ve discovered I’m missing,” Kayla said. “They’ll be searching every inch of the palace.”
“I can do it,” the maid said. She curtsied to the queen and slipped out into the hall. As the noise behind them intensified, Toda peeped out at the end of the gallery. The maid finished kissing the guard and took his arm, leading him into an adjoining room.
“Now!” Toda said. He grabbed Kayla’s hand, slipped across the hall, and led her down to the sewers.
“Sorry, Majesty, but it’s the only way.”
Kayla’s face scrunched at the smell. She focused on the foul water trickling before her feet. She shook her head, took off her shoes, and lifted her skirt.
“Lead on!”
Once outside the city, Toda led Kayla to an abandoned well. By the time they were able to wash off the vile stench of the sewer, more and more torches spread through the city. The chatter of anxious guards had become a cacophony of chaos. Soldiers had joined the palace guards searching every home and shop.
“We made it out just in time,” Kayla said.
“We must move fast to escape, Majesty. I have relatives at an obscure homestead a short ways away. Hurry!”
They moved through the dark roads and hid in side passages when they heard other travelers. Eventually, they found Toda’s family home place. His relatives were most respectful to the queen but raged at the priest for involving them in such a perilous plan.
His brother’s wife got up in Toda’s face. She nodded a jittery smile at Kayla then turned to Toda.
“I hope you know we’ll all be sacrifices to Yingnak if you’re caught sneaking the queen out of the city. There will be no mercy. Ickletor knows nothing of mercy.”
“I had no choice,” Toda said, his tone resolute. “Now will you help us?”
Toda’s brother stepped up, “Wife, get food and traveling things ready.” He gently pushed his wife aside to speak to Toda. “I’ll get the cart. You two can hide in it, and I’ll cover you with things from the barn to sneak you beyond the local estates. Beyond that, you will be on your own.”
With that, the children watched as the adults scurried putting together the travel plan.
“Where will we go, Toda?” Kayla asked as they cart jostled down a road away from the city in dawn’s light.
“I don’t know yet,” the priest said. He chewed a straw. “Once away from the city, I’d hoped we could make our way to Korkufin. Their king will bring his army to avenge the murder of his son. Hopefully, he will restore you to the throne.”
A few days later, near one of Octar’s outlying provincial borders, they ran into the Korkufin prince and his entourage. Kayla revealed herself and told of their escape.
“We were set upon by what we thought were brigands only yesterday,” the prince said.
“Those would have been sent by High Priest Ickletor to kill you, Highness,” Toda said.
The prince assessed the situation.
“Well, my small band of courtiers can’t take on Octar’s army alone. I shall take Queen Kayla back to Korkufin with me and return with an army to
restore her to the throne.”
“Take good care of her,” Toda said.
“Aren’t you coming with us, Toda?” Kayla asked.
“I must go back, Majesty. I must do what I can to stop Ickletor, or he will subjugate all Octar, and I think beyond.”
The queen, prince, and entourage turned west towards the Purple Mountains. Toda traveled back east to Octar.
Only Yingnak knows what will happen to me when I get back, Toda thought. If Ickletor learns I’m involved in Kayla’s disappearance, I’m a dead man.
51: Upheaval!
Nebo returned to the grotto that barely held him after almost killing Malladar. He licked the blood of his victims from his lips and settled down. He’d completed his mission as directed by Ickletor who now controlled the dragon through another spell.
The high priest was walking back through the unlighted path, having secured the beast when the scent of sulfur made him halt. Alarmed, he watched the night as pale yellow edges of black vapor formed up and undulated in front of him.
“The beast does well; does he not?” Tingtwang said in Ickletor’s head. “Did you enjoy your petty vengeance? How unfortunate the prince managed to escape, however.”
The priest sensed a laugh. First anger then nausea pulsed through him.
“He escaped?” the priest's fists squeezed so tight his nails drew blood in the palms.
The eyes shimmered as of laughing.
“What do you want, Tingtwang? Sorry, no bodies for your vermin. Nebo fed on them I’m sure.”
A sharp pain shot through Ickletor’s head. He dropped the case he carried and sank to the ground clutching his head with both hands.
“You have too grandiose a vision of yourself, High Priest. You are no more than my servant. You’ll shut your insolent mouth and do as I tell you. Did you bring The Eye of Dindak and the Book of the Underworld as I instructed?”
“Stop the pain,” Ickletor begged, “They are in the box. I’ll do as you say.”
The vapor circled Ickletor as the pain subsided but remained as a constant reminder.
“For many an age, I’ve waited for some human to free me so that I might take physical form. Now you’re about to do just that.”
“That’s madness, why would you want a body?”
“With a sufficient host, I can be out in the daylight and move more freely. I can achieve more throughout the world. Now come. We’ll return to our dragon. With The Eye of Dindak in your hand, I’ll direct you to the incantation you will invoke that I might become one with little Nebo. And there’s another spell that will enhance his hunger. It will be more suitable for my needs.”
Ickletor cringed, “What is it you want to invoke with this spell?”
“Fear and hate shall feed his growth and power, priest. Fear and hate that you will foster. Nebo will be a force none can resist. The beast will serve both our needs.”
Sensing what he was about to unleash on the world, nausea turned Ickletor’s stomach.
It’s too late to stop it now, he thought. This is the god of not only death but of destruction. He felt his head throb as he trudged up the path to the cave and the doom he was about to create and unleash.
*
The Lord Chamberlain Of Tigmoor stood thinking as his servants dressed him formally in his court robes and headdress. It was a grim day he faced.
Well, he thought, I can do no more at the moment. Who knows how this day will end. We’ve searched exhaustively through the night, but now the ritual must proceed. The queen’s failure to attend her own father’s funeral will lead to chaos through the city.
Resplendent in his feathered attire, the court’s official walked slowly to the grand audience hall of the royal palace as if to his own execution. A speck of hope the queen might have returned and been waiting there was dashed when he entered the chamber. There was no sign of Kayla. But as if timed to coincide with his entrance, High Priest Ickletor, even more dazzling than himself strutted into the room and up on the dais. The worried chamberlain slumped.
The dead king lay on a pallet at the foot of the dais. The chamberlain moved to the front of the stage and raised his arms to silence the assembled nobles there to pay homage to the assassinated king.
The courtiers are agitated and whispering their fears to each other, he thought. They see the queen is missing. Her lack of presence at her father’s funeral confirms she’s missing and something has gone wrong.
The funeral without Kayla was shorter than had been previously planned, the chamberlain fretted. Who will rule? He wondered. I dread announcing, thus confirming, the queen’s obvious disappearance. The kingdom is without an heir with Kayla gone. Will the nobles erupt fighting for the throne before we can lay the king in his tomb deep under the palace?
As the formal elements of the funeral ended, the Lord Chamberlain raised his hands to silence the growing anxiety among the restless mourners.
“Citizens of Octar! I must regrettably announce that Princess Kayla, now our rightful queen, has disappeared from the city entirely!”
The response was as expected. Gasps and looks of horror spread across the great hall. No one seemed to know what to do or where to go next. The chamberlain signaled for the military escort to take the king’s corpse down to his burial crypt. As the monarch and escort disappeared, one ranking noble stepped forward. The room went silent, staring at him.
“Who will rule in the queen’s place until she returns?” The fidgety courtier asked.
When the chamberlain started to respond, High Priest Ickletor stepped up nudging the chamberlain aside.
“As High Priest of Yingnak, I, Ickletor shall rule in the queen’s stead.”
The room buzzed with the people whipped up into a near riot.
“Silence!” Ickletor said. As he’d always done atop the temple pyramid, the high priest’s eyes blazed. He glared down at the people in front of the dais.
“There must be order. No one is better qualified than I am to occupy the throne… until the queen returns, of course.”
Speaking to the stunned crowd, he was pleased to see the temple guards had unobtrusively slipped into the hall and now stood guard at the exits. Their ominous spears jutted up along the walls giving the chamber a prison atmosphere. Ickletor turned his glare to the chamberlain who wide-eyed, hesitated for a second, then bowed to the new ruler and stepped back. Ickletor did not return a nod but looked back to the throng before him.
“There must be order, as I mentioned. Someone, possibly a conspiracy, was behind our beloved king’s assassination. My first act will be to dispatch troops far and wide to search out those responsible for this direct attack on our society! Those aliens that have come and taken up residence in our kingdom must be the first suspects. They may be the agents of foreign kingdoms seeking to undermine the peace and security of our great city of Octar. Therefore, I declare martial law here and now until this heinous plot is revealed!”
Slowly those in the hall began to nod and look for agreement among their fellows. It was a tense moment. Would they submit to the high priest seizing the throne or rebel, Ickletor wondered. He held his breath. No one stepped forward or protested; all mumbled. They fear I will purge their ranks. For now, I should relieve those fears and focus blame elsewhere. Again Ickletor thrust out his arms to silence the cowering nobility.
“If the agents of Tigmoor are discovered to be involved in this tragedy, we shall not hesitate to declare war on King Agmar and Tigmoor! Prince Malladar of Tigmoor was raised here in King Jornak’s very household. We shall have no mercy on treason within or our enemies who seek to overturn our way of life. We shall make Octar great again!”
The frightened looks had morphed into faces of fanatical support.
“Rally to me, my people. Stand behind me as we overcome this travesty. I will lead you to the greatest prosperity in our history!”
Several rows back, one man shouted, “Lord Chamberlain! It is the Lord Chamberlain who should step forward and rule as regent
in the queen’s absence.”
Two men shoved their way through the crowd and pummeled the speaker. At first, the bystanders around the battered man backed away. But then they moved back to him beating him with anything available.
As the brutes carried the unconscious protester out, Ickletor nodded to one of his supporters standing strategically in the chamber.
“Ickletor will save us!” the man began to chant. Others took up the saying, and it spread across the hall. Notably, many but a small minority began to retreat without fanfare from the hall leaving the new king’s devotees chanting themselves into frenzy.
“The queen has abandoned us in our time of need,” Ickletor’s plant yelled, “Ickletor shall be our king!” Others joined in, and the mantra spread across the plaza.
Another of Ickletor’s agents shouted from the palace steps, “Our new King Ickletor will drive the foreigners from our city and the kingdom. They are responsible for Yingnak’s withholding the rain! Ickletor will make us great again!”
Ickletor heard the rising sound of fanatical support. Seeing he was totally in control of the people and the palace staff, the former high priest made token bows to those in the great hall.
“If it is the people’s will, I do hereby accept the crown of Octar in order to save us from those who would destroy our world.”
He made token bows while thinking I’ll darken the memory of Jornak, so the people don’t lament the loss of his dynasty.
“Jornak was weak, too indulgent. He allowed these aliens to infiltrate our sacred kingdom. I shall reverse his mistakes and make Octar great again!”
As the hall emptied, the chamberlain’s assistant slipped up beside him and whispered in his ear, “In one fell swoop the high priest has secured the throne before King Jornak is even in his grave!”
Fearing to acknowledge the man, the pale chamberlain mumbled, “Be careful, the walls have ears.”
*
Toda watched the proceedings from the back of the palace throne room where Ickletor crowned himself. He slipped out unnoticed except by one of the high priest’s attendants who watched every step of his flight. Frantic, he pushed through the jubilant crowd shouting, “King Ickletor will save us!” Back in the temple pyramid, he packed some of his belonging and then went to the temple above. Frightened and wary, he approached the god Yingnak. Glancing about to be sure he was alone, he crept up to the god’s enclosure to pray.
The Grim Conspiracy Page 28