The snow was well and truly melted by this point, leaving puddles on the stone path.
Orion moved one of the stones closer to the fire, brushed it off, and sat. She appreciated the fire despite its small effect and stature.
“I would like to talk about that actually,” Bas said. “I’m very happy to hear your thoughts.” He opened his pack and took out four mugs, as well as his wooden box of tea from his friend.
Hazel raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
Orion shifted her gaze to Bas, who sounded like he had a plan of sorts.
“In thanks for telling us your story, Mister Hazel, I’ll explain mine.” Bas’ expression had settled on something steely and conniving, the type of smile he tried to hide when he was being overly polite yet always failed to. He heated up some of the snow that was left and added some of his tea mixture to it.
Orion scoffed. “Your story?” She propped her hand on her chin. The cold was getting to her now. “Why are we treating this like we are going to just let him go without any issue? My reputation will be hurt if I fail on my first big bounty.” Despite her objection, she made no movement towards Hazel nor used any magic. Her heart wasn’t really into the idea of killing Hazel. Something about killing people she knew and had—disgustingly—grown to care about would hurt more than she wanted to admit.
Bas laughed. “Yes. Haven’t you thought it was a bit strange a prince in favor would volunteer to find a necromancer with strange habits, one that was likely from the Necromancer Corps?” He handed the first cup of tea to Hazel—who accepted it hesitantly—then started melting snow in another cup over their small fire.
“I knew you were up to something,” Tam agreed.
Orion shrugged.
Bas continued his telling after a brief smile towards the others. “From a young age, my siblings and I have been forced to compete for two things: the throne and our father’s love. I don’t want to do that anymore. I tried to back away when I was younger, always running around the country unaccompanied. I took after my mother in that regard.”
“Is your mother . . .” Hazel trailed off.
“Dead? No. She’s just never in the capital.” Bas paused before adding the leaves to the mug of warm water. “A friend of mine helped me during the dragon hunt and I came into favor. Soon after, Norel the Strong and his apprentices made my crown and sword for my debut as an adult. With my fame and diplomacy, I formed my own faction—we’re large enough now that our other siblings have started allying against me. Miseri hasn’t joined anyone, but she’s the oldest and has enough of her own power to be a threat if she cared to fight anyone head on. She performed a true stunt a few years ago; I don’t know why. She brought back the young crown prince and the head of the king Drayce Faustus of Saffi. She had Tel Legen’s attention for two days. A few of our siblings were even jealous.”
Tam lifted a hand towards the fire and let her fingers warm up. She kept her eyes on the fire and added some twigs.
Bas passed the finished tea to Tam and started on a third cup. He kept his hands busy and didn’t look at Hazel as he explained, “I had a hope there was still someone from the Necromancer Corps in Malamut who could help me. If I couldn’t get them to join me, I could at least learn the truth of what happened and leverage it against the king somehow. My connections with the Empire and Alita would help me.”
“I’ve told you my story.” Hazel gestured towards Bas. “Now what?”
Bas leaned back and passed the mug of tea to Orion, who accepted. “Now everything is different.”
Hazel drew in a deep breath and sat down on a rock. He was reining his emotions in once again, but his wet eyes betrayed how much he cared about this. Deep hurts can take a long time to heal, but if they weren’t cleaned out, they only became inflamed. “I don’t quite understand.”
“You want to kill the king, right? You haven’t been able to carry out your revenge. And yet, here we have a necromancer, a knight, a prince, and a mage with ice magic. Isn’t this perfect?” Bas exclaimed. He stood up and gestured grandly outwards. “I’m in! I have just as many reasons to hate the king as you do. Why don’t we all just kill the king together?”
Tam nodded deeply when Bas glanced at her. “I will follow you.” The knight’s oath was simple and sincere.
“You want to be the king,” Hazel stated. Despite his tone, he looked like a man in the desert who had found an oasis—there was a cautious hope.
“I’m young, but I’m at least better than what we have now,” Bas shot back. His back was straight, feet planted firmly. There was a fire of a similar kind in his eyes.
“This all sounds great and everything, but what do I get out of this?” Orion questioned. She raised her eyebrows, skeptical. There had to be enough for her to risk this.
“If I become king, then I’ll triple the bounty.”
“Money, and I want to ask the king one question before we kill him.”
Bas raised his eyebrows, but didn’t ask further. “Agreed.”
Orion considered the tea in her hands. Small bits of leaves sunk to the bottom, too heavy to struggle to stay afloat. “I’m in. Now, explain what you meant by us being the perfect people to kill Tel Legen. Hazel, you’ve been trying to kill him for what, ten years?”
“I’ve been looking for someone with an ice or water elemental contract,” Hazel clarified. “That pet phoenix of his is hard to kill. I’m not sure how Tel Legen tamed it. The thing used to be incredibly violent towards everyone, including him.”
Orion guessed that made sense. Elemental contract mage was instinctive, rather than visual. It was why having a contract was superior on the battlefield—it was more cost efficient for soldiers to use crystallized mana than risk thousands who died from attempting a contract. “Fine.”
Tam looked up from the fire again. “Bas, do you have a specific plan? We could sneak in through the tunnels or request a private audience.”
“The first problem is how to draw the other factions out of the capital. The second problem is killing the king and the phoenix.” Bas was drawing pictures in the soft dirt with the tip of his shoe—he wasn’t very good at it. He explained a bit more of both issues, but the second was more interesting to his companions. If a phoenix wasn’t dead or in an egg state, they could keep their bonded partner from dying an unnatural death. This ability was why the species were indiscriminately wiped out, leaving only five known survivors.
Orion sipped at her tea. She didn’t like how her drink was already lukewarm. Although the snow on the ground was melting, the air was cold. She offered the rest of her tea to Sirius.
They set up camp and brought out their dried food. The place was good for discussing a conspiracy of treason.
Solutions were discussed by the four, and insults traded between Bas and Orion on some of them.
Eventually they decided on a course of action for both problems. Over the next few months, they would have the undead gather in the south. This would appear as if the necromancer was forming an army and cause great concern. Some of the other princes and princesses would venture forth with their bodyguards or the army to crush the threat. Bas’ faction should stay in the capital as their job was to hold down the fort with him gone. Once they lured the others far enough away, they would return to the capital as quickly as possible. Bas reminded them of his letter and said that he had a friend who could help with the transportation.
They ended their night in the cold, by a small fire, staring towards the sky that was blocked by the cliff. None of them slept.
A/N
Sometimes your friend reveals that he’s actually been planning coup. A coup that would mean he’s committing both regicide and patricide. Good for him.
