Queen of Sorrows--Part Three, Chapter Seven

[Evie]

Previous chapter: https://rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3490.0.html


Chapter Seven

June 18, 1465
The Principality of Tralia
Dvorac Bočna
Morning

Lady Ailis woke up feeling a lot more refreshed, but still a bit disoriented. It took her a moment to realize where she was and that the events of the past day and a half hadn't simply been a nightmare.

Beside her, Lady Jadviga stirred, her eyes opening to take in their surroundings. She sat up quickly, looking confused at first before sinking back into her pillow. "Oh, that's right," she whispered. "We're safe with Uncle Matej."

"With who?" Ailis asked as she stood, padding over to a nearby washstand to wash her face. Sunlight streamed through a nearby window, and she peered out of it. The familiar sights of sea waters and a distant shore had been replaced by low, grassy hills and a wide river in the near distance. Farther away, along the river's bank, she saw the rooftops of a nearby town.

"My uncle, Matej Adamović, the Duke of Bočna," Jadviga clarified as she also got out of bed, dressing quickly in the gown she had borrowed from Lady Marija's wardrobe back at the dacha. "I wonder what time it is? How high is the sun in the sky?"

Ailis glanced out the window again. "It's well past dawn, but not very late into the morning yet. Around breakfast time, I should imagine."

There was a knock at the door, as if simply saying the word had somehow summoned the morning meal. As Ailis hunted for her giornea, Jadviga went to open it. A chambermaid entered, setting a laden tray onto a nearby carved chest.

"The Duke is requesting your presence once you have broken your fast, my ladies," she stated, offering them both a swift but respectful curtsey.

"Mine, or Lady Ailis's presence?" Jadviga asked.

"Both, I think. He can be found in his study. Once you are ready, just go to the bottom of the stairs and a footman will escort you there." She curtseyed again and took her leave to allow the two guests to finish their meal in private.

As Ailis ate, she wondered where the rest of their companions were. She knew the other three ladies-in-waiting were likely nearby, simply housed in a separate room, but all the same, she would feel better once she knew they were all accounted for. "Do you know where Katja and the others are?" she asked.

Jadviga snorted. "Probably still trying to calm Eva down. Useless twit!"  She took a sip of her qahwa. "No, that's unfair of me. I don't think Eva's ever been away from Elisaveta this long before, so I'm sure she's frantic with worry, just like Svetlana is over Anna and like we've been over Danelija, Genie, Father Emrys and the children. But still, it's been what, nearly eight years since we were all selected for the Queen's Household, and never once has Eva made the slightest attempt to befriend any of us aside from Elisaveta. At least Svetlana has made more of an effort to be less annoying in recent years."

Ailis shrugged. "Svetlana is loyal to Marija. We're both loyal to the Queen, as is Katya. Eva and Elisaveta don't trust any of the various factions, which is fair, but they also don't want to be bothered with anything outside of their own safe little world, as if ignoring everyone else is going to make the rest of the big bad universe go away. I suppose there's always going to be some friction between our various circles, but you're right, as long as the Queen and Marija are both united against Jesaminda, Sveta is willing enough to be friendly. She sighed. "I guess the one good thing about this bloody mess we're in is that for once we're all more or less united on the same side, or at least all united against Davorin and Jesaminda!"

"The Queen's Household, united at last! And folks say miracles are a thing of the past," Jadviga quipped as she finished her qahwa and pastries.

After their quick breakfast and their descent to the main level of the Duke of Bočna's castle, Ailis and Jadviga were ushered into the Duke's study to discover not only their host, but several other men closeted in close conference with him, some of those men dressed in green and black and wearing insignia on their jerkins that Ailis thought might indicate their allegiance to the Duke of Corwyn. But what would Corwyners be doing here in Tralia? Ailis's heart gave an excited leap. The Queen must have gone there for help after leaving Lady Marija's dacha! That made a lot of sense, now that she stopped to think about it. Corwyn was the closest part of Gwynedd to Horthánthy, after all, and would be able to offer the swiftest response, although Ailis had hardly dared to hope for a response from Gwynedd so quickly!

"My Ladies, thank you for joining us," said their host. "The Duke of Corwyn's forces and my own are working on a plan for taking Horthánthy back from Lord Davorin, and we need your insights and understanding of what we can expect to find at the Palace once we get there."

#

June 18, 1465
The Town of Horthánthy
A wine merchant's residence
Morning

Joss and Marc were still trying to formulate a plan of action for getting into Lord Davorin's apartment to retrieve the Royal Children when the wine merchant peeked into the upstairs room that they had selected for use as their planning chamber. "Your Grace, your other two officers have returned from Coroth, and they've brought a young lady back with them. Shall I send them all up?"

Raising an eyebrow in surprise at this news, for Joss had not asked Rafe and Bennet to return with any ladies, and he couldn't imagine who they would have brought back with them, he shook his head. Whoever the woman was, he could hardly imagine her reputation would be at all helped by being invited to a private meeting unchaperoned with four men conferring with one another in a bedchamber! "We'll meet with them downstairs. Is the chambermaid still here?" He had offered Olga refuge in Coroth as well, but she had insisted on remaining in Horthánthy, saying that her unexpected absence from her duties might be viewed with suspicion, especially once the disappearance of the Queen's ladies who had been rescued the previous evening was discovered, and might end up causing danger to others in her family even if her half-sister Danelija was now safe. Joss was unconvinced that Olga would be out of danger regardless, especially if Lord Davorin was aware of her relationship to one of the escaped ladies, but he could hardly order his men to kidnap the young woman and forcibly take her from her homeland if she didn't wish to leave.

"She is still here, Your Grace," the merchant replied. "She said today is her usual half-day, so she's not expected back at the Palace until the evening."

Joss stood. "Well, let's go see who this other lady is and find out what she wants."

The Duke followed the merchant down the stairs, Marc following close behind him. In the parlor at the bottom of the stairs, Joss was faintly amused to find the rest of his men surrounding the two young women, following their every word and movement with the rapt attentiveness of a flock of ducks hoping that a few crumbs of bread might be tossed their way. He could hardly blame them; after all, he remembered what it had been like for himself only a few short months earlier, after an entire spring and summer spent on the march and living with the privations of one war camp after another, to return to Court and the civilizing company of women. Just the simple scent of rosewater or some other sweet fragrance wafting in a lady's wake as she passed by had been enough to awaken longings for feminine companionship, even if he hadn't had any serious desire to pursue a courtship with anyone. His men had been through even greater hardships during the war, often venturing behind enemy lines in order to carry out his orders. Any moment of respite, even during perilous times, was to be savored.

However, time was on the march, so he couldn't allow them to become too comfortable either until their current mission was completed.

He gave the newcomer in their midst a smile and polite nod as he entered the room. "I'm Joscelin, Duke of Corwyn," he introduced himself, aware and somewhat amused by how very non-ducal he appeared at the moment and realizing the young lady could hardly be expected to make the assumption that the leader of these men was standing before her. He had long since shed his original guise of a drayman, but was still disguised as a Palace lackey somewhere on the lowest rungs of service.

A flash of humor lit the young woman's expression as she sank into a low curtsey and replied. "Well met again, Your Grace. I'm Lady Danelija Marić. You and your men rescued me last night, for which my companions and I are truly grateful."

Joss studied the lady before him. She no longer looked like the dark-haired lady-in-waiting who bore a marked resemblance to the chambermaid Olga, nor did her current appearance owe anything to the glamour of concealment he had placed on the women the night before, which had worn off very shortly after their arrival at the wine merchant's residence. Had one of his men placed a new guise on her, or was Lady Danelija a Deryni also, and a well trained one at that?

"My half-sister is not Deryni, although she is well-shielded nonetheless due to the nature of her work," Olga said as if he had asked the question aloud. "So I took the liberty of changing her appearance, Your Grace. She has certain tasks she needs to complete here, but it would hardly be safe for her to return to the Palace as herself."

"The Queen has given her certain tasks to complete?" Joss asked, not entirely following her meaning.

"Not the Queen herself," answered Lady Danelija on her own behalf, "but I have been tasked with rendering any aid that might be necessary on behalf of the Queen and the young Hort. Your men have not confirmed it, but if the Queen of Orsal and Tralia has sent you here to rescue her ladies, then I am certain she must have asked you to rescue her children as well. I believe I know a way to assist you with that task."

Joss considered the young woman thoughtfully. "If not tasked with rendering aid by the Queen herself, then by whom?"

Danelija and Olga exchanged a quick look. "By Comte Réhon-Rogan von Horthy, rightful Regent to Létald, Hort of Tralia," Miranda's lady-in-waiting replied.

#

June 18, 1465
The Town of Horthánthy
A wine merchant's residence
Late Morning

After another half hour of intense questioning, the Duke of Corwyn finally felt like he grasped a more complete picture of what role the two young women before him had in the various intricate court intrigues playing out at the Hortic Courts of Horthánthy and Vár Adony.

Like Queen Miranda, the Comte had long suspected that Lord Davorin was planning some sort of treachery against the Hort. Also like the Queen, the Comte had secured the assistance of his own sources of information within the Palace in order to try to collect evidence against Lord Davorin and his equally ambitious daughter, Lady Jesaminda, in hopes that he might be able to convince the late Hort that his most favored courtier and his longtime paramour were not to be trusted. So when his cousin Adémar had selected the Comte's kinswoman Lady Danelija to join the Queen's Household as one of her ladies-in-waiting, she had become an obvious choice to ask to keep her eyes and ears open for signs of any suspicious actions on Lord Davorin's part, which she might be better placed than most to notice early, being part of the inner circle of courtiers at the Hortic Court and also in a position to be able to warn the Queen if danger to the Royal Family appeared to be imminent. Danelija in turn had managed to help her half-sister Olga secure a position among the chambermaids, because as Olga wryly noted, servants saw and heard much that their masters never intended them to know, simply because the nobility hardly paid them any notice unless they wanted something, which meant that much of the time they might as well be invisible.

Now the discussion had finally come back around again to Lady Danelija's reasons for wanting to return to the Palace. "You say you have an idea for getting us into Lord Davorin's apartment," Joss reminded her. "I've had a few thoughts on that myself, but what did you have in mind?"

Danelija glanced at her half-sister. "Olga used to be one of the chambermaids to the Hort himself," she informed him, "but obviously now that his late Hortic Majesty no longer requires her services, she was meant to be reassigned to some other Palace apartment when she returns to duty this evening. It seems likely, given her work experience at the highest levels of the Palace, she will be assigned to someone of very high rank who expects exemplary service, rather than simply being relegated to tidying up some of the guest apartments where the less experienced chambermaids receive training and learn how to improve their skills."

"Yesterday, in the aftermath of the coup, Lady Jesaminda was very busily engaged in directing several of the manservants and chambermaids, including myself, in cleaning up the mess left behind by Lord Davorin's hired men," Olga added. "She intends to move into the Queen's Apartment herself, just as Lord Davorin intends to move into the suite of chambers that used to belong to the late Hort. As for the Royal Nursery, they intend to restore that to its original use, although it will take a bit longer to set that section of the Palace to rights because of needing to replace the outer doors. So it seems most likely that the young Hort and his sisters will remain in their current location in Lady Jesaminda's former apartment for now, which is connected to the chambers that were occupied by Lord Davorin. And from what I understand, Davorin and Jesaminda will be bringing their own familiar staff with them, since those maids and manservants are already fully versed in Davorin's and Jesaminda's preferences. So that means that their former apartments will need to be assigned a new set of staff very soon, and it's very likely I will be selected to be among that number. At least I certainly plan on applying for the posting as soon as I return to the Palace today."

Joss frowned at what seemed like a gaping hole in that plan. "If those rooms are going to be vacant, why would new staff need to be assigned to those rooms? Especially yourself, since as you say, you've been a chambermaid for the Hort himself, so wouldn't it be a waste of your skill set to assign you to an empty wing of the Palace?"

Olga smiled. "But the rooms won't be vacant, Your Grace, at least not right away. Lady Mirna and possibly Lady Arijana will continue to live there in the meantime, along with the Royal Children until the Nursery is ready for them again. In theory, Lady Mirna will likely be moving closer to Lord Davorin at some point, because there is a great deal of speculation that either they are secretly married or they soon will be. Mirna and Davorin have been sharing a bed for some months now, and according to her chambermaid and her laundress, her monthly courses have stopped, so if they aren't married, you can count on a wedding announcement very soon, at least if it's a son she is bearing." Her smile faded. "Which is another reason the young Hort needs to be rescued sooner rather than later. If Lord Davorin has a healthy, thriving heir and a wife who can make more sons for him, then little Létald will become expendable even sooner rather than later. Davorin will become even more eager to do away with all of his rivals. And even though he is unpopular with the common folk, not to mention any of the nobility with good sense, there are enough courtiers at the Palace who will figure that since Davorin already holds the power and the privileges that come with being the Hort, then he might as well be allowed to assume the title as well. Davorin is not stingy about rewarding those who are loyal to him. But Davorin as the de facto Hort of Orsal and Tralia would be ruinous not only to our own realm, but also to the entire Forcinn. Adémar was merely self-centered and indolent. Davorin is both greedy and ruthless."

"So if Olga can get hired as a chambermaid in Davorin's original chambers, she could make it much easier for you and your men to gain entry there," Lady Danelija continued. "I am fairly sure they will be hiring new nursemaids as well, since Olga tells me that two of the three nursemaids who were assigned to the Royal Children were executed yesterday, so I can try to get selected for one of the replacement positions. And we also know one of Lord Davorin's longtime manservants who is secretly in the Comte's service. Between the three of us, I feel certain we can figure out how to get your men into that part of the Palace while everyone except for their current nursemaid and the children are out of it." She smiled. "Tonight is the weekly Hortic Court, and after that there is usually a feast in the Banqueting Hall. Davorin and his household will be hoping to return the Palace to some semblance of normalcy by now, I feel certain. So that would be a period of at least two hours when it would be safest for you to make your attempt."

Joss considered the plan. It was risky, and there were no guarantees that either of the young women would be able to get situated into either of the prized positions they hoped for. Yet it seemed to be the most promising option of getting close to Miranda's children thus far despite that. "You realize that this is no game?" he reminded them. "If either of you are caught helping us, we could all end up dead, the two of you along with us."

Lady Danelija nodded. "We know." Tears filled her eyes. "Lady Genevieve was a dear friend. I am not simply offering you this chance on behalf of my Queen or of the Regent. I also offer this for her and for the sake of the children she was executed for trying to protect."

#

June 18, 1465
The Palace at Horthánthy
The "Lord Protector's" office
Late morning

Lord Davorin looked up from the execution orders he was in the process of signing. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" he asked, certain he must have misheard what the captain of the Palace guard was telling him.

Viko Petrović swallowed, wishing not for the first time that he had dared to delegate the unwelcome task of delivering the bad news to Lord Davorin to someone else, but unfortunately as the commanding officer over the Palace guards, the disaster was ultimately his responsibility even though he had not caused it to happen. "The prisoners that were at the top floor of the Hort's Watch Tower are missing. I have not yet managed to determine how."

Lord Davorin put down his quill, taking a long moment to govern his anger so he would not simply kill the guard captain in his ire rather than taking the time to get more answers out of him. "How long have they been gone, and who was guarding their cell at the time when the escape occurred?"

"I don't know, My Lord Protector," the captain admitted. "They were last seen last night after their evening meal, when a guard was allowed in to take away any remaining stale bread and replace the used chamber pot with a clean one. At the time, the women were still mostly in a stupor, so the food had been uneaten and the pot unused. The cell was relocked afterwards–the duty officer's memories corroborate that. The guard on watch during that shift was Antun, then he was replaced at midnight by Tomislav. At dawn, Branimir came on shift, and he was still there when a tray of bread and water was brought up so the ladies could have a final meal. Only when the cell was unlocked, they were gone."

"Have Antun, Tomislav, and Branimir brought to me at once! I will question them myself," said Lord Davorin.

"As you wish, My Lord," said the Captain of the Guard, starting to bow himself out.

"Oh, and Viko? Find those women. Secure the entire Palace and even the port if you have to. If they are not back by sundown, you as well as their three assigned guards will be executed in their place."

#

June 18, 1465
The Principality of Tralia
Dvorac Bočna
Afternoon

The men guarding the portal at Dvorac Bočna were startled when a man unexpectedly appeared on the portal stone, but they relaxed almost immediately once they saw whose livery he wore. Still, since one could not be too careful in these troubled times, one of the guards did a quick mind probe to assure himself that the man truly was loyal to the one whose livery he wore, rather than being an imposter, perhaps one of the Corps Phénix mercenaries assuming stolen livery from someone he killed and using it as a disguise, or else a Deryni in Lord Davorin's employ taking on the guise of the rightful Regent's man-at-arms.

This man, however, was truly in the service of the Lord Regent. The cautious guard offered his hand to the man as he stepped off the portal stone. "Welcome to Dvorac Bočna. You are here to convey a message to the Duke?"

"I am," the man confirmed.

"I will call for a footman to see you to him at once."

#

Duke Matej stood as the courier was escorted into the room. "What news of my kinsman?" he asked.

One of the Duke's men offered their guest a seat. The man waited for the Duke to be seated before accepting it. "The Comte and a fleet of Beldourian warships are currently en route and have made it as far as the town of Străsca in Csorna. Comte Réhon-Rogan has asked me to let you know they will arrive in the area hopefully late tonight or early tomorrow morning." He gave the Duke a grim smile. "Given that Nouveau Richemont is currently little more than a pile of rubble and ashes, I offered to come here ahead of him just to ensure that Bočna hadn't been similarly 'redecorated' by Davorin's hirelings."

Matej grinned. "No, we gave them a hard enough time for disturbing the neighborhood peace that they've headed back to Horthánthy with their tails between their legs." Sobering, he added, "I don't know if the news has caught up with you yet, but Hort Adémar was killed on the night of the sixteenth. The Corps also attacked the Queen and her ladies, but she managed to escape and summon assistance from Corwyn and the Haldane King. Several of her ladies-in-waiting have managed to make their way here; the rest were presumably captured, but we don't know what is happening in Horthánthy at the moment. We believe that the young Hort and the Princesses have fallen into Lord Davorin's hands, though presumably still alive and well. A few rumors have managed to make it this far out from the Île d'Orsal that Davorin is now styling himself as 'Lord Protector' rather than as 'the Hort,' so that's guardedly promising."

"The Comte and our Beldourian allies should be able to liberate Horthánthy once they make it that far down the coast, probably sometime on the twentieth, especially if the Queen has managed to reach out to our allies in Gwynedd and they are also able to send aid," Lord Réhon-Rogan's man said. "Do you have a way to get a courier to Corwyn or Rhemuth ahead of time to check?"

"Oh, I can do better than that," said Duc Matej with a smile. He stood. "If you will follow me, I will introduce you to Captain Conor O'Flynn, captain of the Corwyner ship Vanguard, and also Lady Ailis MacArdry Montrose, Lady of the Bedchamber to Her Hortic Majesty. Perhaps the Comte might like to join us ahead of the Beldourian fleet and have them meet him here at Bočna, if his ship has not yet left Străsca or wherever you found the portal to jump here, so we can coordinate our efforts in person. "

#

June 18, 1465
The Port of Horthánthy
A wine merchant's residence
Afternoon

The Duke of Corwyn studied the street side view outside the wine merchant's residence uneasily. Judging by the increase of activity he saw outside, with the port officials stepping up their searches, he felt certain that the absence of the rescued ladies-in-waiting from their cell had been noticed. Lord Davorin must have given orders for them to be found. Those efforts would be fruitless, of course, now that his men had taken them off the Île entirely, but it also meant that it would be harder for a dozen strangers working together as a group to go unnoticed.

But now that he knew where the Royal Children were, even if his plans for getting into that section of the Palace were still somewhat nebulous, he no longer needed all of his men present. He stepped away from the window.

"I think, given the present circumstances, that it would be best if only the three Deryni officers among us remain here," he told them. "Four men here to do business with a merchant would be much easier to explain than a full dozen of us just hanging about here. We can get the rest of you back to Coroth via the Portal and then return closer to evening. I will need to make arrangements to ready some guest chambers at the Castle for the Royal Children in any case, and unless their nursemaid is willing to be rescued along with them, we'll also need to make arrangements for one in Coroth to be available for a day or two as well, until I can convey the children to the Hortic Queen in Rhemuth. Speaking of which, I'll also need to send a courier there with an update for the King."

"And if the young ladies should return here in your absence?" the wine merchant ventured. "What should I say to them?"

Joss frowned in thought. "I'm not expecting them to show up back here, though I did give Olga a means of contacting me. However, I doubt she would be able to do so if I'm in Coroth. All right then, in that case Bennet and Rafe, you can each make two jumps to Coroth, taking two of the men with you with each trip back, then make the necessary arrangements on that end or have others do so, since I will need you back here in two hours. Marc, I'll give you the portal signature for the diplomatic portal in Rhemuth so you can deliver my update to the King. Again, I will need you back in two hours as well." Looking at the eight human men he was sending back to Coroth, he added, "And if the four of us don't make it back to Coroth later tonight, with or without the Queen's children, by ten of the clock at the very latest, you lot will be on standby in case we need anyone sent to extricate us."

#

June 18, 1465
The Palace of Horthánthy
The makeshift nursery
Afternoon

The Queen herself, still in her guise as the nursemaid Maida, was growing increasingly more frustrated as the day wore on. Now that she had gained access to her children, she wanted to get them out of the Palace as soon as possible, but thus far she had yet to figure out a safe time or method for doing so. Not only was the other nursemaid Mistress Lucija constantly present, now Lady Mirna had just brought up another newly-hired one, a girl named Darija, though why Mirna thought three nursemaids were necessary for only three children's care was anyone's guess. Even when her children had shared the Royal Nursery with Brendan and Ciardha, their three original nursemaids tended to work in shifts, with only two being present at any given time while the third had a day off to visit her family. They had only all been present on the night of the coup due to simple bad luck–Mistress Emilija's husband had caught a cold that week, so Emilija had requested permission to remain at the Palace until he sent word he was over it, so that she wouldn't catch his illness and risk bringing it back to her charges.

She was hoping that Lucija and Darija might decide to nap while the children napped, but when that time came around, one of the chambermaids chose that moment to arrive to take the breakfast and lunch leftovers away. The girl looked somewhat familiar; Miranda wondered if she might be the same chambermaid who had been in charge of tidying Adémar's rooms. She remembered that Lady Danelija had a half-sister who was in service at the Palace, and this girl resembled Danelija a fair bit, but just because Miranda trusted Danelija did not mean she knew whether or not she could trust Danelija's half-sister.

The girl seemed to be taking her own sweet time at collecting the empty dishes and the leftover bits of food in the aumbry, occasionally taking swift peeks out of the window as she worked while Miranda watched impatiently. At last she finally seemed to be done. She turned to Miranda with a smile.

"I see the basket for your laundry hasn't been brought back up yet. I can see if I can bring it back up with me when I return after the evening meal. It probably got forgotten in all of this morning's confusion."

"What confusion?" Miranda asked. She wondered how large the laundry basket was, and if she might be able to use it to smuggle out one or more children, though even as the thought occurred to her, she realized she would likely be unable to lift and carry them all out herself at one time even if she could fit them in and hide them under clothing.

The chambermaid glanced towards the connecting door between the makeshift nursery and Lord Davorin's former quarters before replying in a quiet whisper, "I heard some of the Queen's ladies that were being held prisoner by Lord Davorin somehow managed to escape. His guards are in a bit of a dither, rushing about everywhere trying to find them and get them back before the clock strikes five. They were meant to be executed by then. The Lord Protector is not in a pleasant mood today!"

Miranda's heart soared. Who had been held, and how had they managed to get out? Had Joss managed to figure out some way to rescue them? Perhaps she ought to stay put, if that was the case, especially if the Palace was crawling with guards right now, although she knew every hour she spent at the Palace brought her another hour closer to being discovered, and if that were to happen, she knew she couldn't count on Davorin to be merciful.

"Which ladies?" she whispered back, hoping the question wouldn't come across as too impertinent, coming from someone who was meant to be a newly-hired nursemaid and completely unfamiliar with any of the Queen's ladies. Hopefully the chambermaid would simply take her for the gossipy sort.

"Lady Danelija, Lady Zjata, Lady Elisaveta, and Lady Anna," the chambermaid replied, "or at least that's the names I was told. The Queen had other ladies, but I think they escaped with her. Supposedly they conspired with the Queen to kill the Hort, God rest his soul." The chambermaid crossed herself.

Miranda was hardly surprised by that claim. She had suspected Lord Davorin would make such a pretext for executing her. The only surprise had been his intention to execute the ladies of her household as well. "Do you believe that?" she asked.

The chambermaid gave her a considering look, then shrugged. "All I can say for sure is that the Queen wasn't with the Hort that night. But I've heard–whether it's true or not, I couldn't say–but I've heard it put about that he had a very late night audience with Lady Jesaminda, and very shortly after that he turned up dead."

Next chapter: https://rhemuthcastle.com/index.php/topic,3494.0.html

[tmcd]

"Oh, and Viko? Find those women. Secure the entire Palace and even the port if you have to. If they are not back by sundown, you as well as their three assigned guards will be executed in their place."

There are several items on the "Things I'll do if I ever become an Evil Overlord" list that seem applicable here.

32. I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to come by.

45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him, say "And here is the price for failure," then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.

Because Viko has to have just made a quick calculation.

Probability that he'll fail the investigation (under a time limit, yet) and die horribly? Disquietingly high, and success is not under his control.

Probability of death if he stops by his chamber just long enough to stuff his cash, pawnable jewelry, and a change of underwear in a coat pocket, and then buggers off to the bundu? Probably better odds.

So if Viko has more brains than an orange cat, he's going to start his "investigation" at the harbor, to ask about ships leaving within the hour for Gwynedd or any bloody where outside the Orsal's jurisdiction.

I also remember the start of the fall of the Qin dynasty (China's first Imperial dynasty). "Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were both army officers who were ordered to lead their bands of commoner soldiers north. However, they were stopped halfway by flooding from a severe rainstorm. The harsh Qin laws mandated execution for those who showed up late for government jobs, regardless of the nature of the delay." If they show up late? Certain death. If they start a revolt? Not entirely certain death. They did get assassinated, but others' revolts succeeded.

still in her guise as the nursemaid Maida

A pity she didn't have a chance to recruit local allies. I would like to have read about the groom named Groomo, the server named Serverus, the clerk named Clerkie, ...

[Evie]

Had to laugh at "if Viko has more brains than an orange cat," having had an orange cat before whose sole brain cell was very lonely. 

Whether Viko has more brains than an orange cat is highly debatable, given that he is voluntarily working for Lord Davorin.

A pity she didn't have a chance to recruit local allies. I would like to have read about the groom named Groomo, the server named Serverus, the clerk named Clerkie, ...

My mom used to go to a chiropractor named Dr. Bender.  My dad said it was probably for the best that he wasn't named Dr. Armbuster.

[DoctorM]

I'm very much enjoying this.

[Evie]

I'm very much enjoying this.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. The past chapter or two has been mostly getting things set up for the events about to unfold in Monday's chapter, which may or may not go exactly to plan.   

[Demercia]

And whose plans...?!  Meanwhile, where is Alixa?

[Evie]

And whose plans...?!  Meanwhile, where is Alixa?

Ooh, where is Alixa?! I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I start posting The Rebuilding to find out what is happening in Joux while all of this chaos is going on in Orsal and Tralia.  The final chapters of this story take place at the same time as some of the final chapters in that one, but the events in both stories are connected.

[DerynifanK]

How could you throw out that Alixa is missing and then drop it? Someone needs to be looking for her. A lot going on right now. How do you keep it all straight?

[Evie]

How could you throw out that Alixa is missing and then drop it? Someone needs to be looking for her. A lot going on right now. How do you keep it all straight?

One reason both of my stories ("Queen of Sorrows" and "The Rebuilding") got a bit delayed was that I needed to work out exactly how the events in both would dovetail together once I realized that the coup in Joux was being aided by the mercs who are under the patronage of another group of baddies who are behind Alixa's disappearance in the final chapters of "The Rebuilding," and that it is no coincidence that both events are happening at the same time. So you will find out the answers to what is going on with Miranda and Orsal/Tralia in this story, and learn more details about what is happening with Alixa, Camber, and the entire Jouvian situation in "The Rebuilding." (You will get some small hint of how that situation in Joux turns out at the end of this story, but no details on how it turned out that way until you read "The Rebuilding," since I don't want to spoil the main sequel story I've been working on for a year!)

As to how I'm keeping it straight, those time stamps on every scene help, as well as a spreadsheet where I try to keep track of which events need to happen in order for other things to happen next. Not that I'm all that great at updating the spreadsheet, but I also tend to have lots of end notes on my Google Doc manuscripts so I can quickly scroll down and remind myself of some things. There are people already looking for her, though. Remember, when Camber turned up (twice) to report Renier's disappearance and then to report Alixa's, the ships that were being sent out to look into the situation in Orsal and Tralia were also going to check into the situation in Joux. And you can be sure Camber isn't going to just be sitting on his butt in the comfort of Rhemuth Castle while the woman he loves is missing, so he will be very busy searching for her also. You just won't see any details of that in this story because they will be in the other story. This is Miranda's story, not Alixa's.