Volume IV: The Prisoner Beneath the Palace
The elegant carvings into the quality door of excellent wood were staring at Hjalti, as he was standing there in front of Juelli's room. He came here to knock on the door -well, he came to do a lot more than that in the first instance- but now he barely dared to do even the first thing. His nervousness didn't even come from the fact Prince Parren had threatened him. No, he had Igor for that, who had promised to distract the prince. And so he did, as he was hosting a little party tonight where all the other guards were invited, and the prince was guest of honor, of course. The king's son loved his alcohol. So now, even if he wanted, Parren probably wouldn't manage to return to the palace for quite some time, unless he was carried away. So Hjalti was good to go.
Instead, the longer the boy stood there in front of the door, the more his head became filled with all kinds of scenarios in which this could go very wrong. How good did he know the princess? What if she wasn't interested and needed a little bit of… convincing? How far could he go? How far should he go? What if she started screaming, or called for the guards? What if she wasn't as nice as she appeared in public? She seemed interested in him earlier, but what if it was all in his head? Could he live with the shame of being turned down?
He almost wanted to turn around, but then he smiled, and remembered: He was Hjalti, he was the Hero of Starfall, the dream of every girl in the village. Of course Juelli would like him!
"Knock, knock," sounded as his fist hit the door two times.
"Who's there?" the sweet sound of the princess called. Hjalti thought about his answer, while his mind was telling him that running away was still an option. It wasn't too late.
"It's… It's Hjalti, Milady," the boy opened his mouth. Silence.
Until: "Hjalti who?" She didn't even know who he was! The courage started to fail him, and he wanted to turn around, but then he heard a giggle: "I'm kidding. Come right in. The door is open." Hjalti didn't need to think twice and immediately pushed the door handle down.
The room was white and gold and had a lot of candles and an expensive looking chandelier illuminating the room, with the princess sitting in front of a mirror brushing her golden hairs. With her face reflected in the mirror, she looked at him and smiled: "You are that boy belonging to my brother, are you not?" she said with a dignified Bretic accent. All Hjalti could do was nod like a mute idiot, but this didn't bother the girl. It seemed like it amused her instead. she smiled and said: "What? Are you afraid of a girl? And I just heard the wildest stories the other day, with some men saying you slayed Mephala. They claim you're actually the one to thank for my brother's safe return. But I guess that wasn't true either…"
"No, no, that was me!" Hjalti defended himself hastily.
After that, Princess Juelli turned around to look directly at him. With another giggle, she responded: "Ah, so you can talk. Not that I was complaining, mind you. You should be scared of a girl."
"You don't look to be afraid of, Milady."
"No? And why is that if I may ask?"
"I think you are too pretty for that, if I might be so bold, Milady," Hjalti started to flirt, and this seemed to surprise the princess. But not in a bad way. Her cheeks reddened and her lips curled up again, but this time her smile looked differently than before. Then, after just a mere second, it disappeared from her face completely and she turned around on the stool she was sitting on, avoiding the look of Hjalti in the mirror as well as directly.
"I'm sorry, Milady, it was very inappropriate of me to say that. Please take my pardon and…" Hjalti started to apologize but she interrupted him: "No, it's okay. I just…" she locked her hair behind her ear and hesitated before adding: "Come see me tomorrow night, same time," the princess demanded, and while Hjalti considered himself the luckiest man in the kingdom, he had to protest: "But wait! I can't do that. If the prince finds me, he'll kill me!"
"Then meet me in the gardens, behind the statue of Ser Byric," the princess arranged, "And don't be late!"
With those words in mind, Hjalti left the room with a grimace from ear to ear that covered his face. That night all he could do was think about Juelli and Juelli only. And thanks to the party of Igor, the boy had the liberty to do so without being disturbed by the prince for once, for he slept like a log with all the wine in his system. However, for that same reason it was done with peace the next morning. It came to no one's surprise the prince had a hangover after all his drinking. His pounding headache made him so angry and frustrated at everything and everyone daring to come close to him that most were wise to avoid Parren. Hjalti, however, did not have that luxury.
Still, for the first time since he was saddled with being the servant of the annoying prince, Hjalti was happy. He was too blissful about his late-night success and the promise of the coming date this night to be really bothered about the prince's mood. And that didn't stay unnoticed: "Why are you so damn smiling? And why weren't you at the party last night?" the prince groaned. The boy explained that he was neither a guard or royalty, so he wasn't invited, but Parren hardly listened. He didn't seem to be really interested in anything his page had to say and just made some angry noises in response. It continued to be like this for the rest of the day, with Hjalti trying to hide his inner happiness and Parren constantly yelling at him. Sometimes there were things other than just mean comments that were thrown at Hjalti.
For the rest of the day the prince kept him busy to such an extent that Hjalti had not even a moment's rest to tell the good news to his friend Igor, but a mutual smile when they passed each other in the courtyard was enough for now to let him know the plan had worked. Hjalti was so occupied that the day had come to an end before he could realize it. The evening fell and at that moment, Hjalti expected to come with Parren to assist him during dinner with his family. It was a moment he had looked out for, for there he could see Juelli a bit before meeting her later in the night in private.
However, as Hjalti followed the prince, the latter turned around and grunted: "What are you doing? You're not coming with me. The armors of all my soldiers need to be washed and polished. My horse can use an extra brushing and the stall needs to be cleaned. And if you've done all that, you can come back inside the palace to do the dishes. And I'd be quick if I were you, so you can still have a few hours of sleep before we go marching tomorrow early in the morning."
Hjalti couldn't believe his ears. It was outrageous! He had been cleaning, toting heavy items and listening to Parren's every whim all day long already. He was exhausted! He didn't have the energy to do all these useless tasks all night, plus he had of course other plans. However, Hjalti knew better than to protest to the prince, so he just nodded nicely. But no way he was going to do any of it. No matter how great the wrath of Parren would be, Hjalti accepted to face it if it meant screwing his chances with Juelli completely otherwise. He just HAD to see her!
After Hjalti headed to the armory to restock a bit of the armor pieces so that it looked like he had done something at least, he watched the moon and saw how it was time to meet Juelli, so he headed towards the statue of the Knight of the Flame behind the palace. Hjalti could barely contain his excitement. But then he saw that no one was there.
"Juelli?" Hjalti asked softly, and suddenly he was struck by a pebble hitting him on the backside of his head. "Ow!" he screamed before hearing a soft chuckle. Then Juelli appeared from behind a bush, "That really hurt!" Hjalti tried to sound angry, but the feeling he had sensed just a second ago had disappeared as soon as he saw the beautiful young princess.
She apologized, while still chuckling: "Sorry, after I didn't see you at dinner I wasn't sure if you'd show. I'm glad you made it!"
"So that you could throw rocks at me?" Hjalti responded with a smile while picking up a pebble himself and mimicking throwing it at her. She started to laugh playfully while trying to avoid the imaginary throw, when suddenly a guard yelled, appearing to have heard them: "Oi! Who's there? Show yourself!"
"Quickly, hide! We can't be seen here!" Juelli whispered and Hjalti looked around stressfully for a place to shelter. Juelli initially wanted to hide behind the low bushed, but he argued that the guard would easily spot them there. And then they'd be trapped. After that, Juelli suddenly grabbed his hand, saying: "Follow me. I know a way inside the palace."
The gesture took him by surprise, but it was a welcoming one. He started to blush and couldn't respond before the princess dragged him with her.
For a moment it appeared like Juelli was guiding him towards a dead end, but there was a small, almost hidden servants' entry that led to the palace basements. It was completely dark inside, and quiet too. From here, they could hear the footsteps in the gravel muffle away, until there was no sound of him any longer. Then, all of a sudden, a blue flame illuminated the area around Hjalti and the boy saw how it originated from the hand of Juelli. The shadows of her nose and cheeks danced on her face as he looked at her in awe.
"You're a mage!" Hjalti stated the obvious as she turned to light a candle next to the door. She extinguished her blue flame and grabbed the torch with the golden light instead, but only to give it to Hjalti almost immediately.
"I know a bit of magic, yes," she responded casually, "One day I'd like to join the Mages Guild; travel around Nirn and use my magic to help people and earn money, but my parents wouldn't let me," Juelli now sounded sad and angry, "They say it's too dangerous for me outside, with the war and all. It's just not fair. My brother is doing what he can while he is fighting out there, and meanwhile I am sitting here. Almost like a prisoner."
"Your brother? Parren can barely fight."
"No, my oldest brother. I haven't seen him in 8 years, 7 weeks and… 71 hours, not since he left with his army. Not that I keep track of time."
"Oh wow," Hjalti was impressed by her precision.
The conversation fell silent soon afterwards, until the growling stomach of the boy broke the quietness. "Pardon me, Milady," Hjalti apologized, "I haven't eaten all day while your brother kept me busy."
"Oh, you poor thing! Here, follow me," she waved her hand, "They store some food nearby. It's just on the other side of the basements."
Hjalti had trouble keeping up with Juelli and to stay close enough to light the path in front of her with the torch he was holding, but she didn't seem to have any trouble finding her way. It was obvious she had been here before a lot of times.
If Hjalti had asked her about it, she would have told him she came down here many times as a child to play, mostly alone. Of course, she had to keep it hidden from her parents, though King Tharlon had made it clear in the past that he was well aware of her adventures. He disapproved, but he was only forbidding one particular wing of the basements for her to enter. That part was strictly off-limits, but he never told her why exactly.
Hjalti and Juelli had made their way to the door that would lead them to the cellars, only to find out the door was barred from the other side: "Some foolish cook must have put something heavy against it," Juelli concluded irritated, "But fear not, I think I know another way in."
"You think?" Hjalti repeated skeptically. It was mostly because of the hunger that made him irritated. Luckily Juelli paid no attention to it. She grabbed the torch from his hand while trying to remember the layout of these tunnels and spaces. She knew all too well there was another door nearby, but she had never seen what was on the other side, for it would lead to the forbidden room. It is not hard to imagine her surprise when she found the door to be unlocked. Has it always been unlocked? Or was whatever they kept in here, now long gone?
No, not the latter. Once inside, it was clear why her father didn't want to have her here, for on the other side were the torture room and dungeons. Most prisons were empty, all but one. The prisoner hidden in the dark corner jumped up by the sound of the two children coming towards him, startling them in the process. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the cracking voice of the man said. He sounded actually quite friendly, "I have been in here for a long time, probably as long as how old you are."
"Come on, we should keep moving. Ignore him," Juelli suggests, but the prisoner now stepped into the light: "Wait, wait! I just want a little conversation. Most visitors I get don't talk that much, you see," he said. It was a Dunmer looking very typically with his gray skin, black hair and red eyes. He was meager and by the looks of it, he probably didn't lie about how long he was held here.
"What are you doing here?" Hjalti asked. Now that he saw that the Dark Elf was nothing to be scared of, he saw no harm in sathing his curiosity.
"I'm standing here, don't you see? I could stand somewhere else, if you'd like. So, if you would be so kind as to let me out of here…?"
"Don't be funny, elf. I asked you a question," Hjalti snapped.
"Now, now, no reason to be violent. It was just a little joke. Let me rephrase that. I'm quite sure I'm here because I tried to kill the good king. Nothing personal. It was just a contract. And I would have succeeded, had I not been run over by a clumsy fool at the last second," the man explained with enthusiasm, "But I'm glad I failed, mind. Had I killed my target -again; nothing personal- I probably wouldn't be standing here. Then my head would have served as decorations in the streets of…"
"Wait, what?" Hjalti interrupted him, "Repeat what you just said."
"That I wouldn't be alive had I succeeded?"
"No, before that."
"Tha I'm glad I failed?"
"A little bit earlier…"
"That I was run over by a clumsy fool?"
"Yes!" Hjalti yelled.
"Oh, yes, it was stupid, really," the Dunmer continued not knowing why the boy wanted to hear him say that again, "I knew that trying to assassinate the king with a blade from up close was likely to fail or end in my own death. But I lost my bow earlier, you see, so I had to improvise. And I had to see it through, because if I failed without trying, then the ones who hired me certainly would see to it I was dead. The reason they haven't showed up yet probably means they think I already am."
Hjalti fell silent during the conversation and Juelli noticed it, worrying something was wrong. Well, nothing was wrong, but it was the mere realization who this man was that made Hjalti think: "I know you," he then said, "I know the moment you are speaking about. That was the day I was born."
"Hjalti, are you sure?" the girl asked in disbelief, "That would mean…"
"This man is the reason why I'm here!"
The Dunmer looked at him with the same confused stare since Hjalti had him repeat his sentences, until he said: "Ah… Well in that case, a pleasure meeting you, Hjalti," the Dunmer smiled, "I guess introductions are in order. My name is Dramithas Draveri. Dram to my friends. I was once of House Ra'athim until I became a member of the Morag Tong. At your service."
"Why are you still alive?" Juelli asked.
"I… am not entirely sure, to be honest. I have some ideas, but I guess you'd better ask them," the assassin answered and pointed to the other side of the hall. As Hjalti and Juelli turned around to see to whom he was referring to, they saw two guards coming their way, with one of them yelling: "Stop right there, criminal scums! Nobody breaks the law on my watch!"
"Run!" Juelli pushed the boy and he obeyed, but from the other side another guard showed. There was no way for them to escape anymore, so all he could do was point his hands in the air. Then one of the guards came closer towards the kids and he was surprised to see Juelli: "It's the Princess! Guards, lower your weapons," then he turned to her, and asked what she was doing here. She answered by saying they were lost and just happened to come across the prisoner. She played the innocence card very well, but whether the guard fell for it or not, he didn't seem to just let them go: "I see…," he said while scratching his chin, "I'm sorry milady, but we have to bring you to your father."
Another guard asked: "What about the boy, sir?"
"He can stay here," he commanded, and after, the other guard and his colleague grabbed Hjalti immediately. He struggled to get loose by kicking and biting, but they were too strong, and before he knew it, they had thrown him in one of the cells and locked the door behind him. "Wait!" he screamed, but the men walked away. And with them, the light disappeared, until there was nothing left but the darkness and the cold air embracing the hungry boy who still hadn't eaten.
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