Sixteen: Resolution
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Content warning: violence and death.

The doors to the palace were closed when we reached them; after trying to push them open, we realised they were likely barred from the inside. I swore under my breath; we’d delayed our chase for too long, and Izaak and Verdun had had time to barricade themselves into the palace.

Andrej banged on the huge doors with the hilt of his sword. “Hoy, in there! Open up! It’s an order!” he shouted.

There was a brief pause, then the reply was, “Get lost!”

“What?” Andrej said.

“I said get lost! The king himself ordered us not to let anyone in, under any circumstances!”

Andrej and I looked at each other again, and he shook his head. It was no use; we would have to try one of the side entrances, but those too were sure to be closed and guarded. And while the palace wasn’t a castle by any means, it had still been built to be able to resist a prolonged siege.

I sighed. If only we’d been quicker, then…

Suddenly there was a loud noise behind the doors. The man who’d been talking to us shouted “Hey! What are you--” and was suddenly cut off; the noise continued, it sounded almost like a fight was taking place, and then… Silence.

After about half a minute we heard the sound of the heavy metal bars being removed from the doors, and they opened to let us through. I started to walk forward, but Andrej held up his hand. “No, it might be a trap; I’ll go first.” I nodded in response, and he entered the palace. After a few moments he poked his head out and said, “It’s alright, come on in.”

I walked through the door, and saw that the entrance hall was almost empty; it made sense, after all most of the palace guards – though not all – had been sent outside that day, to help keep the crowd under control so the coronation could go ahead as planned. Two armoured bodies were lying on the ground, either knocked out or dead, and a handful of guards was standing against a wall, their hands up in surrender: they were being kept under control by a group of servants, most of whom I knew, at least by sight. Tomàs and Georg were among them – Tomàs had one of the guards’ swords in his hand, while Georg wielded a huge, mean-looking kitchen knife.

“Don’t ya move, y’all,” Georg was saying, waving his weapon towards the terrified guards. “I’m itching to cleave someone in two, so don’t ya try me.”

“Your highness,” Tomàs said, giving a brief mock-salute. “How are you doing on this fine day?”

I felt my lips draw back into a smile. “Idiot,” I replied. “I’m so glad to see you. But why…?”

“Well, we and the other servants thought, wasn’t fair for ye and the Knights to have all the fun, right?” Georg said cheerily. “So we decided to help ya out!”

“It was Sylvie who organised this, you know,” Tomàs said.

“Sylvie?” I said in surprise, and Tomàs and Georg nodded. “Where is she now?” I asked.

“Oh, you know… Somewhere,” Tomàs said, waving his hand vaguely. “We split into groups to tackle the palace guards. Listen.”

I strained my ears, and I could distantly hear, echoing through the corridors, people shouting and the sounds of fighting. It sounded as if the whole palace was rebelling against the few loyalists Izaak had left.

Bless you, Sylvie. You organised a legitimate uprising, and made our job much easier.

“We have to find Izaak,” Andrej said. “Any idea where he is?”

“The royal quarters, most likely,” I replied. They looked at me, and I continued, “When Herik the First rebuilt the palace, they were designed to be able to withstand a siege on their own, with little help from the outside. That’s where I’d go if I were him.”

Tomàs nodded. “Well then, let’s go.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You stay here, and watch our back, make sure no one follows us. Andrej and I will manage, we’ve both been trained as Royal Knights after all. Besides, I’m not going to let anyone take this from me. Izaak is mine.”

Georg and Tomàs looked at each other, but then nodded. “Alright then. Go on, we’ll be right here if you need us.”

I thanked them, and then Andrej and I moved on; we made our way towards the royal chambers, moving as quickly and as quietly as we could, to avoid attracting the attention of any guard that might still be around. We found several signs of battle, such as bodies or pools of blood on the floor, and once or twice we ran into an ongoing fight between the palace guards and the servants – who’d armed themselves with makeshift weapons, kitchen implements mostly, but I also saw someone swing around a six-foot iron candlestick – and we stopped to lend them a hand. In the end it took us about half an hour to reach the noble wing and the royal quarters.

As I’d thought, Izaak had entrenched himself there. Being careful not to be spotted, Andrej did a brief reconnaissance of the corridor that lead to the royal quarters themselves, and what he reported wasn’t good.

“About two dozen guards,” he said. “They’ve more or less set up camp in front of the door, there’s no way we’ll be able to get past them without being seen.”

“And I don’t like our chances if we were to try a frontal assault, two on two dozen is not advisable,” I replied. “Well, we’ll just have to go through another route.”

“What other route?” Andrej asked. “That’s the only way into the royal quarters.”

I shook my head. “Have you forgotten already, my friend? There are hidden passages all through the royal quarters…”

“…And a few even extend to the noble wing,” he said, nodding in realisation.

I nodded back. “Now, there’s only a small problem.”

“And that is?”

“The hidden door is on the left, just inside that corridor. We have to find some way to distract them, for a few seconds at least, until we slip by them and into the passage.”

“…Alright. Any ideas?”

I looked around the corridor we were in; it was like all others in the noble wing – wide, carpet on the floor, chandeliers near the ceiling, tapestries lining the wall…

Wait, hold on.

Chandeliers near the ceiling.

“I do have an idea, actually,” I said. “Come with me.”

Andrej followed me to the far end of the corridor, just before it turned right into the corridor where the guards were. There was a small door was hidden behind a curtain; inside were several shelves which held cleaning supplies… And a winch that could lower the chandeliers to the ground, to allow servants to replace the candles when they needed to.

“Give me your dagger,” I told Andrej; he complied, and I slowly and carefully cut through the rope supporting the chandeliers, severing most of it, until they were hanging by just a few hemp threads, which were visibly strained.

Silently, Andrej and I moved back to the corridor, hid behind the curtain, and waited. It wasn’t long before the rope snapped completely and the chandeliers came crashing down to the ground, making a terrible racket.

After a few moments the guards that had been standing in front of the door leading to the royal quarters came charging around the corner, swords in hand, to check what the noise was; Andrej and I slipped behind them after they’d passed us, into the other corridor. There was no one there. Amateurs, I thought. True, the corridor we’d come from was the only way to get where we were now, but you do not send your whole force to check out a suspicious noise, you always leave someone behind just in case.

But still, there was no time to waste; I quickly ran my hands over the wall until I found the secret switch that opened the hidden door. We slipped inside, and closed it behind us.

The inside was pitch black; we couldn’t see anything, and we proceeded along the corridor in silence, feeling our way through the darkness with our hands. I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going, but there was only one way forward, and we moved swiftly until we came to a junction.

“Which way now?” Andrej whispered, but I shushed him; I thought I’d heard something.

In the distance, along one of the two corridors, I could hear faint voices, which I thought I recognised.

“This way,” I whispered back.

We continued making our way through the dark passage, and the voices gradually became louder and louder. Now I was finally sure: it was Izaak and Verdun, arguing with each other.

“There must be something we can do. Something you can do!” came Izaak’s muffled words. “You’re a wizard, Verdun, do some magic! Get us out of this!”

“Magic doesn’t work like that, my lord,” was the answer. “It requires time and preparation and careful consideration. Think of how long we planned Herik’s downfall; I can’t very well just snap my fingers and conjure something, I need to work on it first.”

“Well then, work on it!” Izaak shouted. “We’re here, we have time, we’re not going anywhere.”

“But I need my books. My reagents. I need to get to my laboratory. If only--”

The wizard’s words were cut off by us springing into action: while I was listening to them arguing, I’d also been searching for the hidden release I was sure was nearby. I finally found it, pulled it, and pushed against the wall; the hidden door swung open, and the pair looked up in surprise at Andrej and I as we burst into the room, swords in hand.

“Izaak!” I shouted, launching myself towards him.

His eyes widened in horror. “Guards! Help!” he shouted.

My first swing was parried by a sword coming seemingly out of nowhere – I’d been so focused on my target that I hadn’t noticed the half-dozen palace guards that were in the room too. But no matter; I was a Royal Knight, and Royal Knights were the best soldiers and fighters in the continent.

I spun my blade around and the guard fell to the ground, clutching his neck. I turned around, stabbed the guard that had been trying to get behind me, and then another. I looked up, and saw that Andrej had handily dispatched the other three guards.

I took a moment to get my bearings, since I didn’t know where we’d ended up. I saw we were in the main hall of the royal quarters – the room where the balcony that overlooked the square in front of the palace was; Izaak and Verdun had taken refuge there. Glancing around, I also saw that the door that led to the corridor outside was barred with a heavy wooden beam. Good: this way no one would disturb us.

I looked at Izaak again. He was still staring at me, pure fear on his face, and started backing away; I stepped forward, giving chase.

“N-no! Don’t! Guards!” he shouted in panic.

“No one can help you now,” I said, striding over to him and slapping him hard, square in the face. He fell to the ground whimpering.

I took a deep breath; when I’d seen Izaak, after emerging from the hidden passage, my blood had gone to my head, but now I’d calmed down. I felt remarkably calm and collected, in fact. I knew precisely what I had to do. “Andrej, keep an eye on him,” I said coldly. “I have something else to do first.”

I turned towards Verdun.

The wizard started backing away, too, and he raised his arms in surrender. “Wait! Wait, wait!” he frantically said, as I took careful, deliberate steps towards him. “Please, my la-- my lord! Don’t do this! I can be useful to you!”

“Useful,” I said, in an flat tone of voice, still walking towards him.

“Yes! Yes!” he answered. “You know what I can do! You’ve seen what I can do! Imagine what I can do to your enemies! To anyone who crosses you!” A glimmer of hope passed behind his eyes, and he continued, “I can restore your masculinity! Your maleness! Isn’t that what you want?”

“No, it’s not,” I replied.

He looked shocked; he stopped backing away. “It’s not?” he said.

“Have you forgotten, Verdun? I even told you when you asked me.” I was still marching towards him. “I don’t mind this body. It’s not what I would’ve chosen, but I’m fine with it.”

“But…” he protested weakly.

“And there’s another thing you seem to have forgotten: when I swear something, I never go back on my promise.”

For such an ancient weapon, the Sword of Kendrik was still remarkably sharp; I felt almost no resistance as I pierced the wizard’s heart.

Verdun’s body stiffened up, and then relaxed completely; his eyes were still open wide, but weren’t looking at anything any more. I pulled the Sword back, and he slumped to the ground and never moved again.

I took in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. I bent over, and cleaned the blade of the Sword on Verdun’s clothes; then I turned back to Izaak.

He was still on the ground, and started scrambling backwards when he saw me walking towards him. “No! Please! Please, don’t kill me!” he begged. “We’re cousins, aren’t we? You’d kill someone of your own blood?”

I stopped in front of him, looking down at him in contempt. “You did much worse than that,” I hissed. “I would be well within my rights to give you a prolonged and painful death.”

I bent over and grabbed him by the front of his military uniform. “But death is too good for you. I have a more fitting punishment in mind.”

Dragging Izaak behind me and escorted by Andrej, I marched to the double doors that led out to the balcony, threw them open, and strode outside.

The crowd was in a tumult; there was shouting, there was cheering, people were embracing each other. I could see that even some of the city guards had thrown their weapons away and joined in the party; it seemed that the whole city – no, the whole kingdom – wanted to celebrate the end of Izaak’s regency, and the beginning of a new era.

As I walked to the edge of the balcony, someone shouted “Look!” and pointed towards me. Immediately shouts of “Queen Erica!” were raised, until everybody was acclaiming me. I once again lifted the Sword of Kendrik towards the sky, and the crowd cheered even louder than it had before.

“Do you hear that?” I said. “Do you hear them?

I turned my head to look Izaak in the eyes. “This is your doing,” I said firmly.

“What…?” he said, his eyes widening.

“I told you that first day, months ago, when you sentenced me to being transformed by Verdun, didn’t I? I never thought about betraying you. Never, Izaak. You always had my loyalty. I would have died for you. Instead…” I sighed. “Instead you chose to listen to the devils that were whispering in your ears. And now here we are.”

I gazed over the plaza; the people were still cheering and celebrating.

“You turned me into a symbol, cousin. A symbol of resistance and defiance against your rule. A symbol people could rally behind. And in the end… I am now the rightful ruler of Harburg. And you are nothing.”

I released him, and he slumped to his knees, staring at the ground.

“And you know what’s the best part?” I continued, a smile appearing on my lips. “You only have yourself to blame. Now you have to live with the knowledge that had you done nothing to me, you would be king. And it will torment you until you draw your last breath.”

Izaak looked weakly up at me, then down at the floor again. He put his face in his hands, and started weeping.

It was the most wonderful sound I’d ever heard in my life.

 

 

It took most of the day for things to go back to normal – that is, the new normal. Andrej and I remained in the main hall of the royal quarters until the rest of the Knights made their way to us; when Matthias knocked on the door and called out for us, we knew we could unbar the door without risk.

I had them take Izaak away and lock him in the deepest cell of the palace’s dungeons: we’d decide what to do with him in the following days. I was done with him, and would have been happy to leave him alive, a broken man, locked up in a small cell, wallowing in the knowledge that he’d destroyed himself through his own actions; but on the other hand, during his regency he’d hurt a whole lot of people, and they would want to see justice served. There would probably need to be a public trial so that he could answer for his actions – a real trial, though, not the kind he’d subjected me to.

Verdun’s body was taken away, too, and buried somewhere, in an unmarked grave. I didn’t care enough to ask where exactly.

My very first act as Queen of Harburg was to proclaim an amnesty for the Children of Kendrik, and anyone else who had acted against Izaak during his regency; my second was to order the master of coins to open the kingdom’s coffers, and use the gold and silver they contained to buy food for the people of the country, so they could pass the drought without having to go hungry. It would take days for the first cartfuls to arrive from abroad, but once I’d given the order, the people were satisfied.

And then I retired to my chambers for the night: my adrenaline rush spent, I suddenly felt very weak and tired. I took up residence in one of the rooms in the royal quarters – neither Izaak’s nor King Dominik’s, but an entirely different one; after all, there were plenty of rooms to go around, seeing that the royal family consisted only of myself. I fell asleep well before dinner, my energy drained by the stress of the day.

I woke up in the middle of the night; it was still dark outside, but I couldn’t fall asleep any more, and I decided to go for a walk through the palace. The Royal Knights that were guarding my bedroom insisted to escort me, and I acquiesced to their request.

I started wandering aimlessly, without paying attention to where I was going. Without me even noticing, my feet brought me deeper and deeper through the bowels of the palace, all the way to Verdun’s laboratory. I don’t know why, or what I was looking for. Closure, maybe.

“Wait here,” I told my escort, and entered the room alone. The faint blue light that usually illuminated it was gone – it had probably been made by Verdun’s magic – and it was completely dark inside. I grabbed a candle from a table, briefly returned to the corridor, and lit it from one of the torches that were there. Then I went back in.

The faint, flickering light painted long shadows on the walls; the atmosphere was eerie. I slowly made my way through the chamber, exploring each and every inch: the bookcases, the strange glass instruments, the bottles and flasks full of mysterious substances.

The magical circle that had changed me.

I looked at it for a long time. Now that Verdun was gone, it was completely inert. But I guessed that a competent wizard could probably analyse it, reverse-engineer the spell.

Maybe turn me back into Herik.

It was a brief thought, that I dismissed right away. As I’d told Verdun, I didn’t mind being a woman; it made no difference to me. What I looked like on the outside was of no importance, I was still me on the inside.

And that was all that mattered.

Still, something had to be done about Verdun’s study. Everything it contained was extremely dangerous. Magic itself was extremely dangerous. I couldn’t leave everything like it was. I had to take care of it somehow.

I looked around the room again; my gaze passed over the bookshelves, and the books, strewn in piles around the laboratory. Filling almost every corner of the underground cave.

And I had a thought.

I looked down into the flame of the candle I was holding.

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