Chapter 13 - XIII. | O, blood of noble birth...! (2/2)

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Sitting in his room, Hector scratched his head as he struggled over his algebra homework. Garovel floated next to him, reading the newspaper sprawled across his desk.

The rest of the school day had gone rather strangely. His new group of lunch friends had been extremely apologetic, even though he couldn't imagine what they had to feel sorry for. They ended up discussing television and pudding, afterwards, though Hector mostly just listened.

Carpentry club had been the real surprise, however. Word had gotten around of Hector's tumble down a flight of stairs, and when he had hobbled into the clubroom, thinking he would get a bit more work done on his helm, he had been assailed with a slew of inquiries and concerns about his health from everyone in the club. People who had ignored him for the past year were suddenly talking to him again. He handled the situation the best way he knew how. By running away. Or waddling briskly away, at least.

'Turn the page, please,' said Garovel.

He did so. ”How much do you know about the Queen, anyway?”

'Not much. I know she's quite young for a functional monarch. Still in her early thirties, I believe. And I know it was a big deal when she was appointed by her father.'

”Oh yeah, I remember that. It was only like four years ago, wasn't it?”

'Yeah. She's the youngest of eight direct descendants, and all seven of her siblings are male. The King broke Atreyan royal tradition in a big way by choosing her.'

”That's right... I remember 'cause everyone thought she'd rule in name only or just... have her power taken away as soon as her father died... but he died like a year later, and nothing's changed. Well... until now, I guess...”

'I wonder if one of those siblings is responsible for the attempt on her life.'

Hector's brow receded. ”One of her own brothers...? That'd be so f.u.c.k.i.e.d up...”

'Well, when you have that kind of power within your reach, and you're raised to believe it's your destiny or some stupid shit like that, only to see it given to someone else... I mean, who knows if that's really the case? But it's not hard to imagine, given what a huge fuss was made over her appointment initially.'

”Geez...”

'Shouldn't you be focusing on your math, by the way?'

Hector sighed. ”I should be meditating...”

'You meditate way too deeply, you freak. I need you to turn the pages for me right now.'

”Maybe I can just... hang the pages from the ceiling, and you can float around them or something...”

'Just do your damn homework. You can meditate later.'

”Ugh... Y'know, I thought you'd be a faster reader than this.”

'Oh, I'm sorry. How many non-native languages can YOU read? Because I'm only fluent in about three hundred or so.'

Hector blinked. ”Three hundred?!”

'Well. A good number of them are dead, but still.'

”Hmm... You're thousands of years old, though. So that's only like one new language every hundred years. Not all that impressive, really.”

'Oh, shut up.'

After quietly agonizing through a few problems with trigonometric functions, he was relieved to hear Garovel begin musing again.

'Hmm...'

”What's the matter?”

'It's just, this article...'

”Are you gonna start spinning wild theories, now?”

'No.' A beat passed. 'Maybe.'

”Ha.”

'It says the Queen informed her own guards of the attack an hour after it occurred.'

”Huh... Is that odd?”

'Well. Kind of. You'd think the Queen's Guard would be a bit more on the ball, wouldn't you? Even if they'd been unable to stop the assailant, shouldn't they have at least known there was one? If not right away, then surely within an hour?'

”Well... uh... maybe there wasn't an assailant. Maybe someone just poisoned her drink or something, and no one saw who.”

'Hmm. It says here that the Queen was ”in a state of confusion” and has yet to remember any details of the attack. What the hell does that mean?'

”Yeah, I dunno about that one...”

'Apparently, she's scheduled a public press conference a few days from now, and they're expecting more details then.'

”Weird... It's already been three whole days, right?”

'This sounds like... a reaper may have been involved.'

Hector reared back. ”W-what? What makes you think that...?”

'Mainly, the fact that it took her an hour to report the attack, but also the fact that no one else seems to know anything about it. Perhaps the reason she waited so long was because the assassin actually succeeded in killing her.'

”Damn... a reaper revived the freaking Queen?”

'There could be some other explanation I'm not thinking of. But it's not unheard of for reapers to take on people in positions of power and try to use that person for some purpose.'

”Holy shit... are you saying what I think you're saying...?”

Garovel looked at him heavily. 'If a reaper is controlling the Queen, then we'd better find out what their intentions are.'

”They could... they could start a f.u.c.k.i.n.g war, couldn't they?”

'It's a possibility.'

”...What do we do?”

'Hmm.' Garovel moved away from the paper. 'It'll be dangerous, but I think we should go to the capital and try to see the Queen.'

”Really? But, um... should we, uh... should we really just leave Brighton? I mean... what about Geoffrey? He could be hurting people. I feel like we should... uh, stay and... kill him...”

'That's another reason why I want to go, actually. I'm wondering if the Queen's reaper can tell us anything about what Geoffrey is. If they chose to revive a queen, then they're probably more informed about circ.u.mstances around the world than I currently am.'

”Hmm. But even still... there's no way we'd be able to get an audience with the Queen. I mean... even if someone hadn't just tried to kill her...”

'I can go in alone.'

Hector just lowered his brow.

'Don't give me that look. Meeting her won't be dangerous. If she's just been revived, then she won't be able to hurt me yet. But I definitely want you to escort me everywhere else. We might not be the only reaper and servant to pay her a visit.'

”You think so? Do you, uh... do you think I'm ready to fight another servant?”

Garovel fell quiet a moment. 'We won't engage anyone like that unless we absolutely have to. But all the same, you'd better start meditating.'

”Right...”

'Oh, but before you do, lay out the classified ads for me.'

”What for?”

'I'll see about finding you transport. Sescoria is a good four hundred kilometers away. You can't just run there.'

”So I'll take a train.”

'Yeah... Problem with that is, we might have to leave Sescoria in a hurry. If we're getting chased, you won't exactly have time to stand around waiting for a train to arrive.'

”O-okay, but... I don't even have a driver's license...”

'I'll give you a day to practice.'

”Oh, gee, a whole day?”

'Twenty-four hours of nonstop practice should be more than enough to get the basics down.'

”Uh, but it's still illegal...”

The reaper shrugged. 'Eh.'

He sighed. ”This is gonna end with me impaled on a fencepost or something, isn't it...?”

'Probably.'

”Ugh...” Hector rubbed his face. ”This whole thing feels like a terrible idea...”

'I know it does. But a hell of a lot of lives could be in danger. And if they aren't, then so much the better. It could still be an opportunity to make a valuable ally.'

”Yeah... I guess you're right...”

'We only have a few days before her public appearance. Let's not waste them.'

He nodded.