The Crown Conspiracy

“Well you certainly aren’t trussing me up like a pig to get in my good graces. Now exactly what are you doing with me?” The prince struggled against his bonds but soon found them too tight to bother.

“If you really want to know,” Hadrian said, “as strange as it may seem, we are trying to save your life.”

“You’re what?” Alric asked stunned.

“Your sister seems to think someone residing in the castle—the same lot that killed your father—is plotting to kill everyone in the royal family. Because you would be the next likely target, she freed us to smuggle you out for your own safety.”

Alric pulled his legs up under him and worked his way to a sitting position with his back resting up against the pile of white and red striped buoys. He stared at the two of them for a moment. “If Arista didn’t hire you to kill my father, then exactly what were you doing in the castle tonight?”

Hadrian provided a quick summary of his meeting with DeWitt to which the prince listened without interruption.

“And then Arista came to you in the dungeon with this story asking you to abduct me to keep me safe?”

“Trust me,” Hadrian said, “if there was another way to get out of there, we would have left you.”

“So you actually believe her? You’re dumber than I thought,” Alric said, shaking his head. “Don’t you see what she’s doing? She’s out to have the kingdom for herself.”

“If that were so, why would she have us kidnap you?” Royce asked. “Why not just have you killed like your father?”

Alric thought a moment, his eyes drifting to the floor of the boat and then he nodded. “She most likely tried, only I wasn’t there.” He looked back at them. “I wasn’t in my room last night like I usually am. I slipped out for a rendezvous with a young lady and fell asleep in her room until I heard the noise. It is very likely an assassin did come to my room, only I was not there. After that, I had a guard with me at all times until Arista convinced me I had to come alone to the kitchen. I should have known she was betraying me.”

He swung his bound legs into the mound of nets. “I just never thought she could be so cold as to kill our father, but that’s how she is, you see. She is extremely clever. She told you this story about a traitor, and it was believable because it was true. She only lied about not knowing who it was. Once her assassin missed me, she used you. It was more likely that you’d agree to a kidnapping rather than murder, so she set you up.”

Royce did not answer but glanced at Hadrian.

“There was this boat,” the prince went on looking around him, “perfect for your needs waiting at the river’s edge.”

Alric dipped his head at the tarp next to him. “How nice to have a boat with a cover like this to hide me under. With a nice boat, and a river, you wouldn’t be tempted to stray off the water. You can’t go upstream from the city. The headwaters are too rough. You have to go toward the sea. She knows exactly where we are, and where we’ll be. Did she say where to take me? Is it somewhere down this river?”

“Lake Windermere.”

“Ah, the Winds Abbey? It’s not far from Roe, and this river travels toward it. How convenient! Of course, we’ll never make it,” the prince told them. “She’ll have killers waiting along the bank. They will murder us. She’ll say you two killed me just as you killed my father. And, of course, her guards killed you when you tried to flee. She’ll have a wonderful burial for me and my father. The next day she will call Bishop Saldur to perform her coronation.”

Royce and Hadrian sat in silence.

“Do you need more proof?” the prince went on. “You say this fellow that hired you was called DeWitt? You said he was from Calis? Arista returned from a visit there only two months ago. Perhaps she made some new friends. Perhaps she promised them land in Melengar in return for help with a troublesome father and brother who stood between her and the crown.”

“We need to get off this river,” Royce told Hadrian.

“You think he’s right?” Hadrian asked.

“Doesn’t matter at this point, even if he’s wrong, the owner of this boat will report it stolen. When news leaks out that the prince is missing, they will connect the two.”

Hadrian stood up and looked downstream. “If I were them, I would send a group of riders down the river bank in case we stopped and another set of riders running fast down the Westfield road to catch us at Wicend Ford. It would only take them three or four hours.”

“Which means they could already be there,” Royce concluded.

“We need to get off this river,” Hadrian said.

-- 7 --

The boat came into view of Wicend Ford, a flat, rocky area where the river widened abruptly and became shallow enough to cross. Farmer Wicend had built a small stock shelter of split rails close to the water, allowing his animals to graze and drink unattended; it was a pretty spot. Thick hedges of heldaberry bushes lined the bank, and a handful of yellowing willows bent so low toward the river that their branches touched the water and created ripples and whimsical whirlpools along the surface.