6. Breakfast with King and Queen #2
"It required some work to make it presentable," he replied. "But I wouldn't say it was a ruin. Alarat tends to exaggerate."
"When will you learn to take a compliment, dear brother? Your King is praising you!"Alarat chided.
"Maybe when your Highness wipes all the mustard from your face. It's hard to recognise you now," Gawyn sniped back.
"They keep bickering like little boys sometimes," the Queen said with an apologetic smile. "I hope you're not offended, my dear."
"Oh, no. I don't mind at all," Skylar replied quickly. Even with a laid-off atmosphere, she still felt nervous about dining with the King and Queen.
"I'm glad. I can't wait to get to know you better, my dear," Elinora continued effortlessly. "It's always exciting when a new face comes into the court. And I know for sure that the noble ladies are dying to meet you."
Skylar felt a lump in her throat and swallowed her food with effort. The sole thought of meeting with the bunch of sophisticated women made her skin crawl. "I'm nothing special, I'm afraid."
"Oh, don't be silly. You are a most fascinating person with your unorthodox interests and background."
Skylar didn't like that the Queen was talking about her as if she was some rare species of bug, but she only smiled politely while the woman continued.
"We have a little social meeting held in each noble house every week, nothing fancy, just some tea and ladies' time. I would love it if you could attend. I believe the next one is tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Skylar stopped her fork halfway to the mouth.
"Skylar needs some time to adjust to her new home. More important things need to be dealt with first,"Gawyn interjected swiftly, and Sky was grateful for that. "We should be done with everything for next week, though."
"Next week, we're having Mother's birthday celebration," Alarat said. "It would be a perfect occasion to introduce Skylar to the court, don't you think, Elinora?"
"Yes, I think that would be wise. Although, you know that the more you keep her out of the public, the more curious everyone would be."
"There's nothing to be concerned about," the General said. "And I'm not keeping her hidden. Some of us are busy and don't have time for such frivolities like countless social gatherings."
Skylar did not miss that the Queen's eyes narrowed at that comment, but she didn't speak.
"It's decided then," Alarat chirped, ignoring the palpable tension in the air. "Your first official appearance will be at Mother's birthday feast! Isn't it exciting?"
"Yes, very exciting," Skylar replied, putting down her fork. Suddenly, she lost her appetite. Sky remembered the matron Gryphonheart from her wedding. She was a beautiful, elegant woman looking at her with evident disdain, so she wasn't in a hurry to meet her again.
"Changing the topic," Gawyn said and looked at Alarat. "Any findings of the murdered prisoner?"
"Murdered prisoner?" Skylar asked before she could stop herself.
"Are we going to discuss work during breakfast?" the Queen asked with a frown.
"Just a quick update, my love," the King said, gently patting his wife's hand. "I don't know if you heard, Skylar, but in recent months we had a series of unexplained and bizarre incidents here, in the capital."
"I've heard some things, but nothing detailed," she admitted, taking a sip from her teacup.
"Well, the gist of this is that some ordinary people suddenly turned violent and started assaulting whoever happens to be around them. Usually, after such an episode, they end up dead, either killing themselves or getting killed in the process.
"Those incidents happened several times already, so they had to be connected. We managed to capture one of such people and imprisoned him. But before we interrogated him, he slit his own throat. How he got a knife in a heavily guarded cell, we still don't know."
"I told you to let me interrogate him right away," Gawyn said, annoyed.
"You had your wedding. There was no chance I'd let you skip that," Alarat scoffed.
"And thanks to you, now we still know nothing and are no closer to solving this case."
"I'm sorry to interrupt you," Skylar said, and all eyes at the table turned to her. She straightened her back a bit. "What you told me about those incidents... They sound awfully like the work of Shadow Shifters."
"What is that?" the King asked, raising his brow. His face was no longer cheerful, his blue eyes looking at her with full attention.
"The Shadow Shifters are creatures from Blighted Lands. They are kind of incorporeal ghosts that follow the Dark Magic usage. They feed on its remnants and can also possess living beings, just to bring more chaos."
"That's just a folk tale," Gawyn scoffed.
"It most certainly is not!" Sky protested.
Alarat raised his hand. "Let her speak."
"They are not a folk tale," Sky repeated, looking grudgingly at Gawyn.
He only raised his brow as she continued.
"What you described matched perfectly to the way they behave. And your mysterious prisoner's death? That would be no problem for the Shadow Shifter. Once it possesses someone, it can easily change the host. It could take control of whoever was close enough,
be it a servant delivering meals to the dungeons, and make him slip the knife to the cell. Once the mind succumbs to the Shadow Shifter, it's pretty much defenceless against the creature."
"So, if this creature is so powerful, how do you fight it? How would you kill it?" Alarat asked.
"They are vulnerable to certain herbs combinations."
Skylar's hand instinctively went to the pendant she was wearing.
"You can even call it charms. If you wear one, the Shadow Shifters or any other foul creature from the Blighted Lands would not be able to possess you. And a ritual enables you to banish the wraith from the possessed person. When it can't change the host, it is destroyed."
"So, tall tales and shamanism." Gawyn rolled his eyes.
Skylar felt a fury rising inside of her. "Tall tales? Have you not read the reports we send you every month from the border of the Blighted Lands? If you did, you wouldn't call it that!"
"I do read them. That doesn't mean they make much sense," the General scoffed.
"Gawyn, please, let's not..." the King started, but Skylar was already beyond the point of backing down. She clenched her hands in fists.
"Then why bother with all the wedding and alliance farce? I thought you needed my family because we are the only ones knowing how to deal with the Blighted Lands. And now you call it tall tales?"
"We needed your family to unite all the other nobles in the kingdom,"Gawyn said through clenched teeth, his cold grey eyes throwing daggers at her.
"Because something is happening in the Blighted Lands that threatens our kingdom. But it does not mean I will believe in legends of monsters and magic that has not been seen for centuries."
"I believe her,"the King said.
"What?" Gawyn and Skylar askedin unison, turning to Alarat.
"I believe you, Skylar. You must admit, Gawyn, that what she told us makes perfect sense. And could explain all the bizarre things happening here lately. Also, there is one more thing I haven't told you."
"Alarat, don't," the Queen protested forcefully. "This is madness, and you know it. You can't just speak openly about it."
"I have this recurring dream," the King continued ignoring his wife.
"Every so often, I dream about a dark and terrible place, the Blighted Lands. I see the darkness there. It's so black, cold, and malicious that it makes my skin crawl. And it's swelling, reaching farther and farther towards our kingdom every time I see it."
"You're a Seer," Skylar gasped in surprise.
"A what?"
"A Seer. I've heard stories that some of my ancestors had a rare talent. They were attuned to our world so thoroughly that they could sense the disturbances in the magic that existed everywhere around us. Blighted Lands' sorcerers have been abusing this energy for generations.
That's why the place is such a ravished wasteland'. If you saw it in your dream, there must be something happening there indeed."
"All right, I think that's enough talk of myths and legends for one morning," the Queen said sternly, putting down her teacup.
There was no trace of the polite smile she presented to Skylar for most of the meal.
"I hope you both are aware that this conversation cannot get out of this place. If the nobles smell this rumour, they'll be out for blood, saying the King has lost his mind."
"But what if it's real?" Alarat pressed. "I know you and Gawyn are sceptical. But think for a moment, what if my dream and everything Skylar told us were real? Are we ready to face a new dark magical threat like that? Do you think it is wise to ignore it?"
A silence fell. Neither Queen nor the General could contradict the logic of this argument.
"I thought so. We'll talk about this another time, as I need to see to my other duties now." He stood up and bowed his head to Skylar. "My dear, I hope we can talk more at length about this matter soon."