Carol found herself in a middle of a stare off with Michelle, one of Adam's Evercrals maids in the mansion. To her immense frustration, this maid had been pushing hard to get her position of Mianda's head maid ever since they had arrived in the city. Michelle had even spoken to Mianda about the matter, but thankfully after listening to the maid Mianda put her foot down on the matter making it clear that Carol would remain as her maid.

Yet Carol did not feel that her position was secure at all, she had somehow annoyed the Duke Adam. While he was relieved to a point about Carol saving her daughter from being killed, whenever he saw her lately he was constantly criticising her.

He was also being more critical of Mianda, which was strange because he used to be closer with her. Last night she heard him bring up replacing her to Mianda, which upset the poor girl causing her to flee to her room. With all of it, Carol considered taking Mianda back to Taras, but there was still the risk of assassination, Mianda was still safer here.

Wanting to cheer up her charge, Carol had decided to go out and pick up some sweets early this morning. A nearby cafe opened recently. It served some candies that Mianda liked, and Carol bought a small bag of them. As she was walking back to the mansion, Carol was startled to see a small furry creature cross the road in front of her.

At first she thought it was a large rat, but taking a closer look at it, she realized it was actually running on two feet. It had funny looking ears, and when it saw that she was looking at it, its big eyes grew wide and then it jumped into a nearby set of bushes.

Curious Carol went to the bushes and looked inside them looking for the creature, but whatever it was, was gone. Pondering what it was, she continued on back to the mansion. When she entered the mansion, she headed towards Mianda's room, only to find that Michelle was attempting to get Mianda out of the room with an angry tone.

A cold fury gripped Carol, and she said, "What do you think you are doing?"

The girl was startled and turned and sneered at Carol. "The Lady should be taken for a walk."

"You don't get to decide that. Leave." 

Thereupon, Michelle huffed and left. After convincing Mianda to let her in, she found Mianda was crying. After calming the girl down, Carol found that the Maid had attempted to get into Mianda's room and force her to take a walk out in the garden. The maid had even called Mianda getting chubby for sitting around in her room all the time. Carol had to convince Mianda that she was not getting fat which took a while and just simply stayed with her for a long time. When the girl was a lot calmer, Carol gave her the small bag of sweets. Then she left to find the Maid and have a few choice words with her.

She found Michelle folding some linens in the laundry room. Carol ripped into the maid for nearly ten minutes, the maid simply folding linen as Carol berated her. After she had finished, Michelle met her eyes and thus they got into a short staring contest before Michelle snorted and said "Are you done yet?"

All Carol could feel coming off the woman's mind was an intense sense of disgust with Carol. It was as if the Maid did not even see her as a person. "You crossed the line. I'm bringing your actions up to the Duke."

There was a powerful flash of anger from the maid, and Michelle said "You coddle the girl too much. I would be a much better choice for her Ladyship."

"Well, it's not your decision to make." Carol said simply and turned and walked away. Walking back to Mianda's room, she fiddled absentmindedly with the ring on her right as she thought what she would say to the duke about this maid. Before she could make it to Mianda's room, the butler Armandias came walking towards her. She greeted him "Good Day Armandias."

"Carol. Lord Evercral wishes to speak with you. You may find him in the Library."

"Thank you for letting me know. I will head there directly." Carol left Armandias and headed to the library. She frowned as she walked to the library and wondered what the Duke wanted to complain about this time. She entered the library and found Adam was currently reading a book beside one of the windows in the room.

Going to him, she bowed to him and said "You wished to speak with me My Lord?"

Duke Adam Evercral placed a bookmark into the book and put it aside on a nearby table which held a bottle of spirits and a glass half-full. As he placed the book down, she noticed that there was a bandage wrapped tightly around his arm. He said "I wish to discuss several things with you, regarding your current employment with our family."

His words brought a cold knot of fear into her stomach, keeping her face still she asked "Are you dismissing me Lord?"

The Duke stared at her for a long time before saying "I have considered it yes. I have several criticisms about your performance in your duties."

Paradoxically while she felt he was telling the truth for the first part, the second part felt like he was lying. "I apologize to you Duke Evercral, and I am unsure in what manner my performance has been lacking."

"I've noticed that my daughter treats you more like her mother, then my wife who actually gave birth to her. This is far too inappropriate given your station as a maid." Adam said complex feelings coming off him. He sighed and said "My wife has grown increasingly erratic, so I can understand why my daughter has grown closer to you, but I must object. You must make Mianda more aware of the distance between you two."

Carol could tell he didn't even believe what he was saying to her. It was as if he was attempting to push her in a certain direction. "You may object to her feelings Lord Adam, but you cannot control how a person feels."

He let out a small laugh and said, "Don't tell the Queen that." Adam sighed and said "Please sit, I will explain myself to you, so you understand the position you and Mianda are in."

Taking the chair opposite him, Carol sat down. The Duke was silent for a moment and then said "I know you felt something for my brother when you were younger. I saw the way you looked at him when he would visit us. How you would find an excuse to be near him."

He snatched his glass and took a drink. "You know, I investigated his last day at the estate. That day you were the first person he slept with, and my wife was the last one he slept with. I was so angry with my brother, that I threw him out and he fled. Now years later I realize the true blame lies with the curse that he was inflicted with. Yet in my heart for the longest time I also blamed you a little bit. Which was unfair of me. My brother was already on his last strings, no doubt if it wasn't you, one of the other maids would have pushed him over the edge."

Looking down into his cup, he took a mighty swig and then said "The Empire wishes Mianda to leave the Kingdom and travel back to the Empire on the Airship the envoy's arrived in. When Mianda arrives in the Empire, she will be married post haste."

Carol frowned and said "My Lord, Mianda is way too young to be married."

"I know, but the Empire no longer wishes to wait until Mianda is sixteen. The King has already hinted to me that he will agree with their demands. I have no more cards that I can play, the Empire has revealed their hand, and it is a strong hand. They will be defeating the Solas Kingdom before the end of the year, and once they do, they will invade us unless we completely capitulate to every demand of theirs. If we do, we will be welcomed as a vassal nation of theirs."

"How are they so confident in crushing the Solas Kingdom?" Carol asked.

"The northern tribes have agreed to come down and assist the Empire. Solas does not have enough manpower to fight two different fronts. It will be crushed."

"How did they get the tribes to agree to this?"

"They offered the tribes some of Solas land. You may not know, but the land to the north beyond the mountains is a mix of tundras, desserts and other hostile lands. They lack suitable farmland. The Empire is quite willing to let them have a bit of farmland."

"So Mianda's marriage is one of their demands?"

"Yes, Accordingly Mianda will be married to the sixth prince of the Empire."

"Is there nothing that can be done to postpone or stop this from occurring?"

Adam swirled the amber liquid in his glass and shook his head "All avenues I have looked into are dead ends. For one big issue. The curse that lay within Mianda's blood. It needs to be resealed every year, and it's due soon. As one of their demands, the Empire will be taking the device needed to seal it. Mianda will have little choice but to go to the Empire to have it sealed. I fear she would face a massive backlash if the seal is not renewed in time. I had hoped to give Mianda enough time for her Nephew to most likely discover a means of breaking the curse once and for all, but all is for naught."

Fear for Mianda flushed through Carol, she asked "How much time does Mianda have?"

"At the most two weeks. This is when the Empire Delegation is scheduled to return. Though they may decide to go at any moment if they feel like it, it seems like they are waiting for someone to come to the capital. When they leave on the Airship, Mianda will need to be on that ship. The Modipod will also be on the ship as well."

"What would happen if Mianda is not on board?"

The Duke was silent for a moment and said "Depending on the reason; I will likely be punished by the King. As for how the Empire would react, I'm unsure of how the Emperor would take it. He may declare war for the insult or simply want another to replace Mianda's place. Yet, I don't see her not being on board. The Empire has placed agent's watching our house under the pretense of making sure a future princess of the Empire is safe. As such it will be hard for Mianda to go 'missing.'"

Carol caught on how he said missing as if he was suggesting something to her. Thinking about that, she asked "Have you told Mianda yet?"

"Not yet. I am at a loss of how to break it to her." She felt an immense sadness threaten to overpower Adam.

There was a knocking on the library door, and Armandias looked in. "Lord Evercral, you have a visitor to see you. It is Sir Telvin and his orc friend."

Nodding, the Duke told the butler, "Please show them in here."

After Armandias left to retrieve the guests, Carol asked "Should I leave Lord Alex?"

"No, Telvin will likely wish to speak with Mianda after he is finished speaking with me. I'll have you show him to Mianda." 

A few minutes later Armandias led Telvin and Riley into the room and then closed the library door behind him leaving the four of them alone in the library. Telvin strode forward and took a seat. Carol nodded politely to them, and the Duke said "I hope your stay in the city has been fine so far Telvin."

"It has been quite the stay so far. I didn't realize the capital was filled with so many assassins."

Adam frowned and said "You have had assassination attempts on your life? Could this be related to the one placed against Mianda?"

"Could be, not sure though. Definitely not sure why they want me dead so badly. I recently gathered evidence that your neighbor here Lord Raeta is likely housing some of the assassins."

"That is quite odd to hear. I've always took Lord Raeta as quite the pacifist. While he is a bit of a creep, he has been adamantly against violence in the discussions I've had with him. He also is quite fond of Elve's, so I find it even more weird if he is indeed targeting you. Do you wish for me to have a talk with him?" 

Telvin shook his head. "No, I prefer to deal with it myself."

"Very well, though I will discretely investigate him. If he is behind the attempt on my daughter's life, I won't hold back. Please tell me a bit about these assassins."

"Besides using Errais oil to hide from scrying, they are quite dangerous. The most recent attempt on my life, they attempted to use crossbows to shoot me with Abyssal Poison tipped crossbolts."

"Abyssal Poison? How many of these bolt's did they fire at you?"

"Dozens. They left part of a roof looking like a pincushion."

Carol felt confusion sweep through the duke and he replied "That makes very little sense to me. To coat a crossbow bolt you would need several drops of the poison. One drop of Abyssal Poison at the bare minimum costs nearly one thousand big gold coins, though I have heard of it going for far more."

Riley asked "You are familiar with Abyssal Poison?"

"Quite. My Grandfather wrote an extensive book on the subject of exotic poisons. He dedicated three full chapters to the Abyssal Poison. It has no other use besides to kill and is banned throughout all nations. Luckily for the world, the supply is almost non-existent. If they were using Abyssal Poison in such a large amount, that is quite concerning to me."

Carol frowned and asked "Do you know how it is made, Lord Evercral?"

"Vaguely, my Grandfather did not delve into great detail as he had no desire to spread it around the world. Still the process is incredibly complex and hard to follow. You must find an abyssal frog. They live in the deepest portions of caves, but are incredibly hard to find. They only produce the oil necessary for the poison when it is in their mating season. You have to scrape the oil off the frogs back into a special container. At least ten or so frogs need to be scraped like this to create a drop of the poison."

"After they get the oil off the frogs, they must be careful not to expose the oil to sunlight or it will go quickly bad. After several other refinements of that oil, they then add a drop of oil of vitriol to the mix, and the Abyssal Poison is complete. It is incredibly hazardous and toxic. It will dissolve any organic matter within minutes and can even damage non-organic matter as well."

"Do you think they could be farming these frogs?" Riley asked.

"I highly doubt that. Not only are these Frogs very temperamental, they tend to die at the drop of a hat. Even if you manage to scrape the poison off them, they die almost directly after. Once the poison was found, several attempted to breed the frogs, but they died in captivity rather quickly as well."

"So somehow these assassins are getting ahold of a great deal of Abyssal Poison." Carol said.

"This is not news that I wanted to hear." Adam shook his head. "This was one of the most dangerous things my grandfather had ever seen. He saw the deadly power it had, for any nation to wield it. I shudder to think what the Empire would do if they got their hands on a large amount of this poison. What horrors they could release upon the world should they choose to do so."

"Well, I plan to find out more of the assassins so I will find out how they get the poison."

Adam nodded and said "So why have the two of you come to visit us today?"

"We actually came because early this morning I had a meeting with one of the Queen's servants. They told me a lot of things, some of which I hope to see if you could verify if he was telling me the truth or not."

Frowning Adam poured himself another drink and shrugged, "You may ask your questions, but I cannot guarantee that I will be able to answer them."

"Foremost, I was assured the Queen is in fact a Half-Orc."

The Duke's eyebrows raised in surprise, and he thought for a long moment and said "That is an interesting accusation. You said one of the Queen's servants told you this? Did they tell you their name?"

"No, but they were a short man with a crooked nose. They also said the queen was hiding this fact under a glamour spell."

"I know who you speak of. I don't know his name, but I have seen him around the queen. I cannot verify this, but it is possible as she feels almost unnaturally beautiful to me. I do find it strange however that she would even hide her race from the rest of the kingdom. While Orc's are rare within the kingdom, they are not regarded in the same negative light as Monsterkin are held in. Did they tell you anything else?"

"They also told me that the current King had been on a journey throughout the Kingdom and found her and fell in love instantly and brought her back and wed her making her the queen."

Adam snorted and said "That is technically true, but it left out quite the numerous number of details. For instance were you aware the King was actually already married when he met the current Queen?

"No. What happened?" Riley asked.

"The King used to regularly travel around the kingdom to make sure everything was going alright. One time nearly twenty years ago, the King set out on one of his Journey. This was his first journey after he had married Regina Applebast, a princess from a kingdom to the south. He had set out with a hundred guards, but a month later only came back with twenty guards, and along his side was Keres, the current queen."

The Duke took a sip and continued "It is not unusual for a King to take multiple wives, but to the surprise of the court and the kingdom, he made this unknown woman Keres, his head wife. After he had married Keres, he effectively banished Regina to a far corner of the kingdom in an old estate of his. As far as I know she is still living there alone."

"That sounds like a diplomatic disaster. Assuredly the Kingdom Regina is from, hates the way she is being treated." Telvin said.

"They would have, but soon after the King married Keres, the Empire destroyed Regina's kingdom. It is possible when that happened, her heart broke, and the reason why she did not fight being replaced by Keres. Perhaps the only saving grace from her union is that Regina bore the Kings only son. Keres has yet to have any children, though based on the way she acts towards the king in the bedroom, that is hardly surprising."

Sitting the glass back on the table, he looked at Riley and asked "Why did the Queen's Servant wish to speak with you?"

"The Queen wished to make me an offer. Before I made a decision regarding her offer I wished to get more information."

"That I can understand. Queen Keres in my honest opinion is a nightmare to deal with. Not only is she a Narcissist, she is also vicious. Cross her and you risk her wrath. If you have something she wants to have, she will stop at nothing to get it from you. At one of her birthday parties, a woman dared to dress in a dress more expensive than the queens, and the queen had her stripped naked and paraded through the streets, that was the last anyone heard from her."

The Duke was silent for a long time after he had said that and Telvin eventually coughed and said "How is Mianda doing?"

"I'm afraid she is upset with me at the moment. Carol, I need some time to myself, would you please show them to Mianda's room?"

"With pleasure Lord Evercral." Carol stood and said "Please follow me."

Exiting the Library, she led them up the stairs, when she saw no one about, Carol had them duck into an empty room. "I need to tell you something about Mianda."

Telvin frowned in concern and said "What is it?"

"The Duke told me that the Empire was going to have Mianda travel to the Empire in two weeks or less to get married to one of the princes." 

"The Duke is doing nothing to stop this from occurring?"

"More like he sees no way he can. Mianda's birthday is approaching soon, she needs that Modipod in Alacanars temple to seal her curse. The Empire is planning to take it back to the empire as well. Unless you can break the curse, Mianda can't simply run away." Carol stopped and then started again "I got the strong feeling that he wants me to take Mianda away. I can't do it on my own. I will need Jack's help to get Mianda out, and as well get the modipod from the temple."

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Telvin said. "I'm not going to let those scummy Empire fuck's harm my sister. But we need to come up with a plan."

"Yeah, Duke Adam also told me that there was empire spies keeping tabs on Mianda, so we will also need to deal with them."

"Got it. I know a few people who could help us keep track of these spies. It is possible Falaen could throw her weight as a princess to get this wedding cancelled or delayed." Telvin said.

They exited the room and began to head towards Mianda's room. As they got closer, Carol was startled to hear the little girl scream in fear. With her heart in her throat, she dashed to the room just barely beating Telvin following her. Tearing open the door, She found the room was filled with small little green creatures jumping around. Mianda lay huddled in the middle of the room. Seeing one of the creatures hissing violently towards Mianda and preparing to jump on the girl Carol dashed into the room and kicked the small creature into one of the walls. 

All the creatures began to hiss and began to dash out the window, Telvin managed to shoot one and killed it instantly. Carol swatted another with her grey psionic blade lopping it's tiny head off. The rest of the creatures had left the room. The room was now a mess and Carol sat down and wrapped her arms around Mianda.

Kissing the girl's forehead, she said "Your safe now okay sweetie."

Telvin went to the window looking out and then closed the window. After Mianda calmed down, Carol asked "What happened sweety?"

"I was eating the sweets you gave to me, when I heard a knocking on my window. There was an adorable little furry creature at my window.  I thought he was one of those pixies you spoke to me about. I let him in and gave him some of the sweets. Some of his friends came to play with me. It was fun until they all of a sudden began to change into those monsters."

"It's alright." Carol whispered to the girl and she examined the corpse of one of the creatures.

 

 

Riley frowned and said "These must be the Gremlins that Falaen spoke about."

Carol thought about and realized that the creature that she saw that morning must have been one. It likely followed Carol back home. She looked out the window at the now night descending on the city and vowed to make sure these creatures would never hurt Mianda again.