Bowstring and Steel: Ep. 01

I nocked and drew down on him as well. "G for Gennol?" I asked. The Empress nodded.

"I recognized his handwriting, Ranger. Guards! Disarm my oldest son and escort him to the dungeon." She said.

Gennol seemed to come out of his shock. "What? You cannot be serious! I am innocent!"

"Shut up!" Raelina shouted and smacked him. "Did you really think I wouldn't recognize your handwriting?"

I caught her younger son out the corner of my eye as he quickly hid a smile. I shifted my aim to him. "Your Majesty, I believe Gennol."

The Empress looked at me as if I had grown a second head, then followed my aim to the startled and exceedingly guilty looking Lann.

"Lann? What are you talking about? Lann has always been a good boy!" Raelina said to me.

"No he hasn't, mother!" Hanelor said in defense of her eldest brother. "Lann was the one who constantly teased me when I was a child, before I got sent to the Monastery. He would tell me how father was going to kill me one day, then make him Emperor over Gennol."

Lann turned crimson. "You fucking SLUT! Hanelor, you're nothing but trash! Always have been, always will be!" His words were laced with venom for his sister. "Gennol was the perfect patsy! I would have killed our dear mother and framed my beloved brother all at once, and I WOULD HAVE BEEN EMPEROR AS OUR FATHER PROMISED!" He was shouting his guilt for all to hear by the end of his rant.

I still had Lann trained in my sight. "Orders, ma'am?" I asked the Empress.

"With admittance of his crime not under duress, the crime and punishment are clear." She took a shuddering breath and looked at me. "Loose, Ranger," she said quietly and turned away as I shot Lann la Cionan through his eye and into his brain.

As soon as his body fell, I looked at our Empress. She was crying silent tears as Hanelor and Gennol were holding her in a family hug.

Lann's widow, Princess Veslara was dumbstruck, and looked at me as if I was a monster. I looked steadily back at her. "Princess, I acted on the Imperial Decree of your Empress. Your deceased husband plotted Regicide and the framing of his own brother for the crime. Either you were complicit in this, or you were unaware. Either way, your fate is now in the hands of our Empress."

She looked from me to her husband's body where my arrow stuck straight up from where it had entered his eyesocket.

Hearing me, the Empress turned to her former daughter-in-law. "Veslara, you will be detained until a Truth Mage from the Guild can be brought in to verify whether or not you were complicit in my son's plot. You will be confined to your suite until such time as either your innocence or your guilt should be determined." She kept herself together very well, all things considered. She then turned to her guardsmen. "Guards, escort the Princess to her suite and post a guard outside her door. She will be treated with all courtesy and privilege due her rank until such time as her guilt, if there is any, is determined."

"Yes, Your Majesty," a guard said and bowed before taking Veslara by her arm and escorting her to the staircase on the other end of the throne room.

She then turned to me. "Ranger, I owe you more than my life. I owe you the life of the one worthy son I have. I nearly made a horrible mistake today."

"No, ma'am. We all nearly made that mistake. If not for Lann giving himself away, he would have gotten away with it." I said to her.

"As it may be, but you and Hanelorina are welcome to stay here whenever you wish." Empress Raelina turned to her daughter as Hanelor stepped to my side and took my hand. "Hanelorina, I am reinstating you as a Princess of the Empire."

"Don't you dare, mother!" Hanelor had a look of horror on her face. "I will NOT be part of Court politics or scandal! Gods, my life is scandalous enough without all that!" She blushed when all Rangers, guards, and Paladins turned to look at her, and I realized that none of them knew her true lineage. The only ones who knew were Denna and Jalin. Denna showed no surprise, and Jalin just smiled and shook his head.

Raelina laughed. "Very well, Hanelor," she said. "But if you change your mind, the offer will always be open."

"Thanks, mother. Now, I believe I have a resignation to make." Hanelor kissed me quickly, then ran to Jalin and grabbed him to go see to her resignation.

I looked around at all the faces staring at me now. "What? I didn't know until last night."

The End of Episode 1