Fourth Vector Ch. 20

Olaf nodded easily. "I will, sir. What about Katherine? What do you want to do about her?"

"I want you to hire a local assassin to take care of her. Someone who can move quickly. I know we have men searching for her in Picardy. I want them called off for the time being. Make sure whomever you hire is loyal and good at their job."

"Are you sure you don't want to wait for Galician assassins?" questioned Olaf with a raised eyebrow. "We don't know how efficient the local talent is bound to be."

"True, but don't let funds be a problem in this regard. Buy the best that money can buy. That should ensure we get someone of quality."

"And the man? What about him?"

Eric pursed his lips as he thought about the question. It was obvious now to him who the man was. The line of Galician royalty ran in his veins, he was sure of it. And if Katherine had hitched her cart to his, it was obvious what the only outcome could be.

She would eventually lead him to Galicia and to his birthright. As well as to the one person who would stand in their way.

If he didn't deal with the threat now, eventually they would come for him.

"Kill him too if they can get him at the same time as her," said Eric calmly.

"Is this man the heir that we've been seeking?" asked Olaf with a raised eyebrow. "Why else would it be so important that we kill him?"

"These are questions you don't need to worry about, Olaf. The important thing is that he needs to die. Her too. The only possible reason they could be in Carinthia and meeting with Reina is to plot against Galicia. They should be treated as rogues at best or revolutionaries at worst. Either way, a swift death is in order for the both of them."

Olaf nodded only with reluctance. "I will pass along the orders back to the ambassador."

"See that you do. I want a status report as soon as possible. Tell them to keep me well-informed, and I want to know the moment that they die. If they have a chance to abscond with the bodies, I want them sent back to Galicia, understand?"

Olaf bowed but not before giving one final acknowledgment. "It will be done, sir." Just like that, the chief Galician spy was on his way back out of the forest.

"You don't have much longer to live Katherine. You and the heir will die together," muttered Eric under his breath. He then snapped his fingers at Magnus. "Bring me that chair. Set it up right here. I need to sit." He then looked at another servant. "You there. Bring me some water."

As both men rushed to attend him, Eric sat back and drank a heavy gulp of water. He would finally get a chance to do what his uncle never could.

The royal line was going to be extinguished forever.

*****

"What in the world is the meaning of this?"

King Aedan of Picardy stood at the entrance to one of the unused bedrooms off a wing of the royal palace. His mouth was open as he gawked at the assembled people in front of him, many of them local leaders of his armed forces. Not only was Rear Admiral McNally there, the commander of all naval forces in Daban, but also Colonel Fagan, the local commander of the Picard ground forces in Daban. With them were other officers of lesser ranks, many of them looking nervous about seeing him.

They should have been, seeing as Aedan had no idea that they were behind this door. He'd been led here by an overly-vague servant, telling him his assistance was needed in this quiet wing. Seeing the assembled group in front of him had him rushing to close the door before one of the Swabians noticed the impromptu meeting.

"Are any of you going to answer me?" asked Aedan again, the tone of his voice rising. "What in the hell is going on?"

McNally was the first to speak up, something that didn't surprise Aedan in the slightest. McNally was headstrong and aggressive, traits that featured well in a naval commander. "Your Majesty, we don't have much time. We were only able to gather here under extreme secrecy."

"And you put all of your lives in jeopardy in the process," said Aedan with an angry glare. "Now out with it."

McNally swallowed. "Sire, we're here to accede to your wishes. How can we coordinate the defense of the city? The Swabians are taking over every strongpoint we have. If we wait too much longer, they'll be firmly entrenched, and we won't be able to fight back."

"This is what you're here for?" asked Aedan incredulously before looking into all of their eyes. "Were my initial orders not clear enough to let the Swabians proceed unmolested?"

McNally blinked. "Sire, we were under the impression that they coerced you. It's no secret that the palace is swarming with them. We're here to ask you your true wishes. How do you want to defend your capital? While we still have time?"

"By having your men stand down," replied Aedan coolly. "The Swabians are our allies now. You should coordinate the defense with them."

Fagan was the next to speak up. "Your Majesty, you know that I know that's a farce. I was in the room when the Swabians appeared and threatened the queen and the unborn crown prince. You can't expect us to remain silent."

Aedan was losing his cool. The Swabians could discover them at any second, and he wouldn't be able to explain what this meeting was about easily. Ciara's life was in the balance, as was their child's. He had to be firm with them.

"What you saw is none of your concern," snapped Aedan. "That last time I checked, I ruled here in Picardy, not you. You'll follow my orders or you can surrender your commission in my armed forces."

Fagan paled quickly. "But what about Picardy? Are we just to roll over like we're already dead?"

Aedan didn't answer that charge. Instead, he turned his back to the men, quickly approaching the door. As his hand gripped the knob, he heard another voice behind him.

It was Fagan. "Your Majesty, we're just trying to help—"

"Then help me by listening to me," pleaded Aedan, softening his tone as he half-turned to face them. "The woman I love more than anything is under threat. You being here brings the gun to her head. You must leave and go back to your posts."

"But what are we to do?" asked McNally helplessly. "Is there no way we can help you? Is there nothing we can do?"

"You can pray," said Aedan simply. "We all need it."

None of them responded to him. Most of them hung their heads in shame, a feeling that Aedan sympathized with. In ordinary circumstances, he wanted them full of piss and vinegar. Now? He just wanted obedient officers who would listen to him while he figured a way out of this mess without losing his family.

In the end, fear won out over courage.

"Go back to your posts," said Aedan calmly. "Sneak out of the palace and make sure you're not seen. I can't promise you anything right now, but I need you all to be loyal sons of Picardy right now. Listen to your sovereign and help me get the target off of my family."

He didn't stay to hear their answers. Aedan stuck his head out of the room to make sure no one was nearby. Once he saw the hallway was empty, he hightailed it out of the wing, making his way to the personal quarters he shared with Ciara.

Along the way, he passed no more than fifty Swabian soldiers, most of them in groups of two or three as they kept order in the palace. It was a cruel facade to pretend that he held the final word in Daban, let alone Picardy. He didn't even know why he bothered to wear the crown anymore. As far as reality was concerned, Magda was the power in the city.

Entering his quarters, he found Ciara lying in bed. She was on her side, her large pregnant stomach extending a good portion away from her body. She was now into her ninth month, and in two or three weeks, he could expect for her to give birth to their son.

That is, as long as he got them through this turmoil. Whether from the Swabian occupation or the Carinthian invasion that was bound to occur.

It also begged the question—where were Jack Easterbrook and Katherine Rosdahl? Were they any closer to getting a mediation with Reina? That might solve one problem but not the other. But if they failed, he would then have two types of foreign soldiers marching around his city.

A daunting experience for anyone. And not one he wanted for the good people of Picardy.

"Aedan, what are you doing?" asked a now-awake Ciara, stirring slightly in bed.

He couldn't help the fact that his head hung lower upon hearing her voice. There were no words to properly describe the feelings of failure that raced through his body. Not being able to protect his people, his wife, and his child were an infection of their own—eating his body from the inside out. He couldn't help his next moves.

He started to weep.

Sliding into bed, he waited for Ciara to respond to him. She didn't disappoint, soon slipping her arms around his shoulders.

"Oh, Aedan, are you all right?" she whispered.

"I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted quietly. "I'm failing. I'm failing Picardy."

"You're not," she insisted. "You're doing everything you can. You're doing that which you think is best. You're walking a tightrope right now in a deadly situation. Who can possibly ask you to do anymore?"

"I do," he replied. "I ask myself to do more. I ask myself not to give in, not to be weak. But I won't sacrifice you. I won't add to the rolls of the dead, especially after the plague. The people are right. I'm not the king my father was."

She tightened her grip on his body. "You're twice the king your father was. Just because you can't see it yet doesn't make it any less so. No one else would care this much. No one else would've gone to such great lengths to try something new for the benefit of his people. No one could've known it would have turn out like this."

"My biggest fear is that one day from now, they will look at my name in the history books. They will call me Aedan the Fool. And generations of schoolchildren will know how I failed."

Ciara kissed him tenderly. "You're still alive. And while you're alive, we still have hope. Do you believe me?"

"It's hard right now," admitted Aedan. "I just see so much despair. I had to tell my own commanders not to fight back the Swabians just now. The words tasted just as vile in my mouth as they sounded to my ears."

"Because you know it's the right course of action," she insisted. "Because you know we are not strong enough to resist them right now. Not on our own."

"But we might?"

Ciara nodded. "If Jack and Katherine are successful and come back, we might be strong enough. We can't give up hope yet."

Aedan nodded weakly. "To that, we have to hold all of our hopes."

The two royals only had a few moments with which to comfort each other. About ten minutes later, there was a rather heavy and intrusive knock on the door, and none other than Magda the Swabian burst into the royal apartments, looking like the cat that had caught the canary. It was a look that Aedan was used to seeing on her face lately, and it chafed him to no end. Whereas he'd previously found her sunny and polite disposition to be a wonderful departure from the traditional Swabian attitude, he found out it was just a farce, hiding a far uglier persona underneath.

"Ah, there he is," cooed Magda, moving toward the bed. "Your Majesty himself. How goes your day, Aedan?"

He looked up at her with disgusted eyes. "I'm sure you can figure it out on your own, Magda."

"Not well then?" she said with a grin. "I can't imagine why. After all, your kingdom gets stronger by the day."

Aedan found himself laughing weakly. "I didn't take you for much of a joker, Magda."

"Where is the joke, Aedan? With every new Swabian soldier that arrives, Picardy gets stronger. Maybe not in the way you expected it though."

"So you say," he replied. "I take it this isn't a pleasure call? What do you want?"

"You know, I liked you a lot better when you were more polite," she said with a subtle tsk-tsk.

"I liked you a lot better when I was still in control of my kingdom," he shot back.

"I guess now we see the truth in one another," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "It was bound to happen eventually." Magda pulled two pieces of paper from out of her pocket. "I need you to sign these immediately."

"What are they?" he asked, taking possession of the two notes. They appeared to be two orders, given in his name, commanding his armed forces into new positions.

"The first is to authorize the landing of another Swabian regiment in Daban as well as other regiments in the south of the country," said Magda sweetly. "The second is to allow permission for the naval batteries to shoot on sight any hostile or seemingly-hostile forces appearing in Daban bay. It also requires your navy to immediately come to the bay to protect the city from any hostile acts."

"What the hell does seemingly-hostile mean?" asked Aedan with his own degree of hostility. "And how can you expect me to sign these? This is nothing more than a joke. A perversion of reality."

"This is reality, Your Majesty," said Magda with a wicked grin. "And this is our attempt to shore up your defenses. Already Swabian soldiers have occupied all the hot spots in the city. Now we need to coordinate the defense. The Carinthian ultimatum expired today. I'd assume we'll see a response from them in the coming days. If we can't defend your capital city, Picardy will surely perish."

"And if I refuse?"

Aedan put some steel in his spine and stood up straight. Even though he towered over Magda, she didn't appear to be the least bit intimated. Quite the opposite, she seemed amused.

"Well, then you know what happens in that case," answered Magda. She formed her fingers into a gun and pointed it at Ciara. "Bang," she said coldly, before moving the pointer finger to Ciara's stomach. "Bang, bang."

There were no other words needed to convey her point. That one word repeated three times told him everything he needed to know.

"I'll sign the orders," he replied hollowly, feeling more and more like his masculinity was drifting away.

"I knew you'd see it my way," said Magda. "To think, someday from now, historians will look back on your reign and deem you Aedan the Wise. The history books will love you."

"I have quite the opposite opinion on that," he spat back.

"Whatever. It's of no consequence," replied Magda with her acid smile. "Sign it quickly."

Aedan did as she requested, quickly putting his name to both documents before handing it back to her. Once they were back in her hands, her smile grew wider.

"Excellent, Aedan. This will do just lovely. I can't wait to see another Carinthian warship join its brother out in the bay. Together, we'll stand up to their oppression and teach them their proper place in the West."

"As you say," said Aedan, hanging his head once more. "If you need nothing more of me, then leave me in peace and go away."

Magda let out a rich laugh. "As you say, Your Majesty. I'm your humble servant." She gave a half-assed bow before she slipped out of the room, leaving the couple alone once more.

"I really wish I knew where Jack and Katherine stood," said Aedan in a whisper. "I have no access to my own communications, so I have no idea if they even had any luck in Carinthia, or if they are at this point sailing far, far away from our lands."

"We just need to keep up the hope, love," said Ciara.

"Even if they do show up, they'll be answered by hostile shore batteries," said Aedan weakly. "At least most of our navy is still in Zarah. They'll take a long time to be fitted out and make the journey north. We just might yet buy hope for our unlikely rescuers. Aedan the Fool indeed."

"They are intelligent people, dear. They'll be able to figure out what they are coming back to." Ciara kissed his forehead before placing his hand on her stomach. "Come, feel your son. He kicks me even now. Do you know what he's trying to say?"

Aedan shook his head.

Ciara smiled. "He's saying be strong, father."

*****

"All right, listen up," said Magda to the assembled group of Swabian officers out in the main hallway of the Picard royal palace. "I have in my hand the order to shoot any foreign warships in the bay on sight. Make sure you get word to all the batteries for when the Carinthians show up."

The mass of officers nodded, many of them new arrivals to Daban in the previous week. They were a quiet lot, as one could expect of Swabian officers. All the years of training had beaten the mouths off of them, and many of them found out quickly it was easier to remain silent and follow orders rather than to protest and possibly die. That kind of obedience made the common Swabian soldier dangerous on the battlefield—he could be expected to follow any order to the letter. Failure to do so was tantamount to a death sentence.

"I need all of you to also be on the lookout for the eastern force that has been stalking this part of the world, and that was recently seen in Daban harbor," added Magda. "They left over a week ago, but it is believed that they may come back with hostile intent."

"Who are these easterners?" asked one of the colonels closest to Magda.

"A force claiming to be from the Javan Empire, all the way out in the furthest reaches of the world," said Magda. "However, with him is a Galician dissident. The last deposed regent who can be counted on to be hostile to Swabia. For that reason, we believe this entire force will be hostile to us. Be on the lookout for them. I have requested that the Picard navy move to the bay so as to aid the defenses as well."

That last bit of information had only been transmitted this morning. News was abuzz with the knowledge of the last Galician regent being found and sailing with this force. Lord Avila himself had passed along the news, although how he found out, Magda couldn't have guessed. She was thankful for the news though, as every new bit of information they received, the better prepared they were to hold their position.

After giving out the last of the orders to the assembled commanders, Magda dismissed them, retiring to her own quarters in the palace. They weren't given to her magnanimously by a grateful pair of royals, but rather she'd seized them shortly after they took over the palace. It made for an excellent nerve center for their operations in the city, and even now, various subordinates rushed about their own tasks throughout the day.

However, most noticeable in his lack of activity was none other than Adalbert Avila. The man was looking out the window to the city, without a single note in his hand or mission to take care of. Magda rolled her eyes. For someone who'd already escaped death once, the man didn't seem too willing to keep his neck safe.

"Adalbert! What are you doing?" she screeched.

The man jumped and turned to face her. "I was waiting for you to come back," he said all too quickly. "I took a message from one of the commanders earlier about where they wanted to position their platoon. I told him I'd ask you and get back to him."

Magda wanted to walk up to him and smack him. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and looked at him as she would an errant child. "You blasted idiot. I just met with all the commanders and issued instructions. Surely you weren't waiting here just for me to return, were you?"

"Well, I was. I thought that—"

Magda silenced him with a single gesture. "Try to be more useful, Adalbert. I know it's awfully easy to hide behind your last name, but do try to be somewhat competent once and while, all right?" She placed a gentle smack against his cheek before walking away.

Adalbert's eyes flashed with anger momentarily, enough to make Magda's lips curl up in a smile. She enjoyed chastising the man, watching his pride fall more and more with every disdainful statement. Like a good child that he was, he listened to every rant that she had and never once challenged her seriously, even though she could tell that he wanted to.