Responsibility Ch. 16

Author's Note: Sixteen chapters in and my main character is still a virgin. Considering what type of website this is, I don't know if that's a sign of bad writing or not. Also, warning! Unnecessary costume porn is coming. Seriously. If pointless descriptions of clothing bug you, then you're going to be bugged because this is ridiculous. And, on a final note, there will be some non-sexual violence here. Please don't freak out.

***

Panic.

These men, be they nobles or commoners with special permits, Rahela couldn't say who they were. All she knew is that they weren't behaving as they should have been. They scared all the girls. Ammas was the only man in their group, and he tried yelling at the hunters. Princess Tuya tried too. How dare they?! How dare they act so dangerously?!

The horses on the path, they were understandably upset. They didn't need instructions. They ran out of the way.

Ureche ran too, but not in the way Rahela expected.

It didn't matter how Rahela moved, didn't matter how she tried to correct the mule, didn't matter at all. The mule just kept running. Rahela wanted to jump off but she was worried about breaking a limb. She looked back to her group, which seemed to grow farther and farther away ... and became less of a group and more like a scattering.

Ammas tried to catch up. Rahela caught a glimpse of his furious, determined face.

But Ureche was unusually swift.

She wasn't even moving in a single direction. Curves and angular turns. Rahela could only think to scream. She screamed and cried, trying to let everyone know that she was in danger.

Time went on. Maybe it wasn't very much time at all, but to Rahela it felt too long. Ureche had left the group a while ago. Rahela eventually thought it was best to risk hurting herself. This mare had lost her sense! Rahela didn't even want to wait for her to tire out.

The best she could, Rahela curled herself up and rolled onto the earth.

It hurt.

A mild explosion of twigs, leaves, bugs, and other random things.

An ankle and a foot took on so much pain that it felt like they could shatter with the lightest pressure. Rahela was appreciative of the fact that her head was fine. Her hair had all kinds of things in it. Some of her clothing was torn. Her ribbon fillet was askew. Otherwise, she thought she was fine.

Rahela crawled through the layers of dead plant material and detritus up to a tree and leaned her back against it. Then she busied herself by picking and plucking the litter out from her hair. When one was lost, it was wise to stay put. She'd be found eventually.

More rustling noises.

Behind the tree!

Before Rahela could even yelp, a man was on her, grabbing her skirt, holding an arm. He told her to keep quiet or else he'd hurt her. She kicked with her good foot and pulled out her well trusted knife, yanking the blade out of the case that protected her from being accidentally cut.

First the ribs. A guttural voice, a painful shout, it fell over her. Blood. She felt its warmth. It was being absorbed by the man's clothing.

That wasn't enough for her. With a short cry, she pulled her blade out and stabbed up top. More blood. It spurted and glided, some of it trickling down her hand and onto her sleeve. She saw the man's shocked and painful expression.

Rahela's lips parted. Her eyelids pulled back.

Ganbold Hudma? The stable worker that had been so devoted to Ureche?

Her lips pressed back together and her teeth met in a similar way.

No time to react much more! He was moving, trying to take her wrist!

She drew back, stabbed him again, pushed him down to the earth.

Knelt down.

More stabbing. Down. Up. Down. Her arms hurt. She was screaming again. She barely heard the man's noises. Whenever he tried to get away, she would grab him and yank him right back.

Rahela didn't even hear, or at least not at first, a man calling out, "Your Highness!" He had to repeat the title, hollering it. Only then did she let her wild eyes turn away from the now still and amazingly bloody figure on the ground. Both of them were bloody, actually, and that blood only made it easier for the forest litter to cling to them.

A horse was approaching with Ammas on it. He stopped and dismounted. Then he ran over to her. He went down to his knees, and he reached out with one hand, but that hand froze in the air. His jaw was low. It had likely been low for longer than Rahela had noticed.

She kept her knife in her grasp, but her arm low, the blade facing away from her body. Then, her brain finally told her what to do next. She dropped the knife, put her palms to her cheeks, and screamed again.

And again.

More!

Her throat burned. Her lungs probably resented her.

Even when she heard more horses approach, Rahela screamed.

Even when she heard Princess Tuya's yelling she screamed.

Even when she heard Yana trying to pull words together she screamed.

Even when Ammas was gripping her shoulders and giving her a very light nudge she screamed.

Even when Princess Tuya dismounted, pulled up her skirts a bit and ran to her, kicking up leaves and dirt, she screamed.

Even when Princess Tuya moved one of Rahela's hands away and gave her cheek a single, painful slap with her open palm, she screamed. All it did was make her head move a bit. Rahela didn't stop.

The people around her were trying to debate about what to do next. Ammas and Princess Tuya were the most powerful voices, literally and figuratively. Rahela couldn't hear them well. She was still loud. Her voice was high and hurtful.

An agreement seemed to have been made. Rahela could sense that much. When Ammas knelt down to her again, he had a much more resolute expression was on his face, Rahela knew he was going to try to get her to stop.

His hand rose.

The back of his hand went right to her. That time, it really, really stung and her whole body was knocked over. That was what finally got Rahela to stop screaming.

***

The hunters had all been fined and given a beating. They turned out to be commoners. They were fortunate not to have their privileges revoked. They had claimed they were all so eager to catch a certain animal that they forgot how to be polite.

Pitiable Ureche was eventually found passed out on the ground. She was so tired. Later, when Rahela gave her a quick inspection, she happened to find a small something attached to her flesh. It seemed to have been an insect stinger used as a dart. This led Rahela to believe that Ureche had been drugged.

As for the now dead Ganbold Hudma, well, Rahela had obviously taken care of that matter.

Princess Tuya had given a firm quote. "Princess Rahela was clearly attacked by a wild man. She killed him so frantically, and she was so traumatized that she wouldn't stop screaming. I won't listen to any word against her."

Rahela knew that princess' words didn't matter. If anything, they could've inflamed the ire.

The whispers among the nobles, the guards, even the servants, all were well known. Rahela even heard one of her chambermaids ask about it.

Of course, Princess Rahela paid those hunters to separate the group of riders so that Rahela could be given a chance to escape! Of course Princess Rahela needed to be alone in the woods, which was admittedly a popular location for lovers. Of course Rahela had told that stable worker to meet here there, wanting to seduce him. Of course, once Rahela had been caught, that heinous woman murdered him to disguise her crime!

When the Empress Dowager came to visit Rahela in her bedchamber, she sat with her on the balcony for a while, and she commented on the issue.

"The human mind is astounding. Enough prejudice will have one twisting everything into impossibility."

Keeping her fingers busy with a little embroidery in her lap, Rahela asked with her breathy voice, "Your Majesty, why am I being accused of so many terrible things? Have I not proven myself loyal to this mighty empire?"

Sighing, the Empress Dowager looked up to a cloud, or that's what Rahela assumed, and she said, "There are so many reasons. Testoa is still so new to this empire, and you're still considered to be foreign. Your customs are different. Your appearance is different. You discovered corruption and didn't ignore it, bringing difficulty to those that would move in the shadows. You were at the center of a poisoning scandal that resulted in the death of a duke's son, and that duke has his own allies that I might not be aware of." She pointed her face back down to look at her shiny fingernails. She was frowning. "Also, you have the audacity to accept a position many want for themselves, the Emperor's bride and Empress Consort."

Rahela only just missed her fingertip with her needle's point. "There was always darkness lurking in my homeland, but I was never so hated before. This environment is toxic."

"You'll need more than a spoonful of activated charcoal to absorb it all."

Rahela's needle paused as she turned her head up and to one side to see the Empress Dowager reaching up to fiddle with a bit of dangling, silver beads that hung from her headdress. Her frown was melting away. Softly, these words floated out of her. "Activated charcoal, indeed."

Heat swept through Rahela's face. There was a tense moment, a quiet moment, where she waited to see if the Empress Dowager would any anything else about activated charcoal, but she didn't. That older woman only asked if she'd like to play a board game.

***

The morning the Emperor arrived was full of busy people. The castle had been busy before. Everyone had been preparing for the wedding, but that had been a gradual process, a portion a day. Now people were rushing.

Floors had to be swept, washed, and polished. All the tapestries and flags had to be beaten and shaken, the same for the rush mats. Statues and decorative armor had to be dusted. What few paintings there were had been gently wiped with dry cloths.

Rahela, Princess Tuya, the Empress Dowager, and their retinues all prepared themselves to greet the Emperor in the beautiful foyer with the intricately tiled floor and wide rug. Rows of high class servants and guards were there too. They stood in place, waiting.

Once again, this wasn't a formal event, although it was essentially a formality.

Rahela's sleeves were snug, with only some decorative lacing from elbow to wrist, complete with tiny loops, brooches piercing the knots, and little golden aglets. She didn't have much more finery than that. Princess Tuya and the Empress Dowager didn't have long veils, although their headdress' bands at the backs of their heads had a few thin festoons of silver.

The doors were dragged open. For a second or more the sunlight turned the approaching figures into black shapes. Then, as the details came into view, everyone except for the Empress Dowager bowed. Great foot steps pounded on towards them. The bowing ones straightened.

Oh!

There was a new little boy with him.

Borys Chaika, who looked slightly taller than before, has holding that little boy's hand. He had an irritated expression. Judging by the little boy's pouting face, Rahela assumed Borys had scolded him.

The Emperor was grinning. He had a new scar on his temple, but it was so thin and so short that it could easily be forgotten about.

A childless widower and he still went off to war, putting himself in danger!

And. He. Was. Grinning!

The Empress Dowager addressed him first. "Is that new child a page of yours?"

"Yes," The Emperor said as he stepped over to her and pinched up some of her veil. "His father warned me about his unruly behavior, but I took him. Borys has disciplined him many times, and he's still a difficult one."

"He'll be well-behaved soon," the Empreee Dowager said with a nod.

Excited and nearly bouncing, Princess Tuya went to him next. "I want to start a new tapestry portraying your victory. You must discuss it with me."

Lightly tapping her pink cheek with his fingers, His Majesty said, "You'll have the most important details."

Then he turned to Rahela, who bowed once more. She thought he smelled sweaty, but he was no less venerable than ever before. "Your Highness," he said, "do you have the token I left behind?"

Immediately, she untied the handkerchief and handed it to him.

He held the cloth up to his face, gave a little sniff, and made a leery expression with his dark eyes. "It doesn't smell as it should. Has it been washed recently?"

A line formed between the Empress Dowager's eyebrows. Princess Tuya put a hand to her bosom and pointed her eyes to the floor.

Rahela sighed. "It was stained with blood, My Lord."

"Oh?" He folded the cloth and put it away in a pouch of his. "Tell me how that happened."

"It's a difficult story," Rahela warned, "and I'd rather have you well rested and fed before burdening your mind with such a thing."

Shrugging, His Majesty said, "Fine. I'll have a bath and a meal. Then I'll summon you. I won't hear any stories from anyone else until then."

***

The sunlight revealed more of the reading room's details. Rahela could see the high up tapestries' colors and shapes, the single shelves on the walls that held scrolls, and even the dancing women that were carved into the bench's legs.

As it normally was, Rahela and the Emperor were the only two people in this little room in the library. There wasn't much space for any more people. Rahela stood before the man as he sat down on the bench. He was patient with her. He hadn't asked any questions. He hadn't prodded her. He hadn't even pulled on her hair or sleeve. He simply waited, one of his hands casually curled over his seat's edge.

Rahela began with the explanation of why the handkerchief token had to be washed.

"Not long ago, I rode in the hunting grounds with Princess Tuya. I noticed that my Ureche seemed to react to something, although I couldn't imagine what it was at the time. I did understand that something had contacted her body. Then, a group of hunters charged through us. We were separated. Ureche ran away, so far that she led me away from everyone else. She didn't heed any of my commands. I soon decided to push myself off of her. I suspect she was drugged."

The Emperor didn't react much to this information, although one of his fingernails did tap the wooden seat.

"While I was on the ground, waiting for help, a man suddenly appeared. He threatened and attacked me. I had no choice but to defend my honor."

That sent the Emperor's thick eyebrows down. It also had to two fingernails tapping on the seat instead of one.

"I had to stab him with my knife." Rahela sighed and turned her eyes away. "I killed him. I had no mercy. Your token handkerchief was stained with blood."

A jerking little movement sprouted under one of the Emperor's eyes. The other one seemed to bulge.

"I have more to tell you," Rahela said, "but I've angered you. You might harm yourself, as you've done before."

"Reluctance won't placate me. You will speak." His voice was quiet. It didn't match his highly irritated face.

Looking away, noting a stone tablet that had been gently placed in a corner of the room, Rahela started the story.

"Before I was attacked in the woods, the Empress Dowager took a favorite, a son of a certain duke. Batu Markov. After that, I was accused of poisoning Her Majesty. I was kept in a cell for a nearly a month. I wasn't fed well."

He interrupted her. "Ah. I'd wondered if you'd lost some weight." His tone was different from before. A stinging bite was there. Four fingernails were digging into the bench's seat. Rahela wondered if he'd leave marks.

"Some days, there was no food at all." She only shook her head for a moment. Then she continued. "I was questioned. I was told the Empress Dowager was ill in bed from her symptoms. Eventually, I was taken to the Imperial Court with Princess Tuya on the throne. She defended me, even berated the audience, but she let them give their arguments."

The Emperor's fingers seemed to pale. He was snarling.

"The Empress Dowager appeared. She took the throne and revealed that she'd been misleading everyone. In fact, once she learned that she'd been poisoned, she took medicine and pretended to be bed-ridden. Then, she said that she'd waited to catch the culprit. She even brought their bodies to the court."

Some of the angry lines left the Emperor's face, but his fingers were still clawed onto the seat. "I'm assuming Batu Markov was one of them."

"Yes, Majesty." Wanting a horrified and squeamish expression, Rahela put her fingers to her cheek and let her eyelids draw back as if she was remembering the corpses' ghastly faces. "Oh, it was such a haunting vision. One of Her Majesty's chambermaids had been given the poison to apply to her jewelry either before or during their cleaning. Batu Markov was the one to give her the poison, or that's what Her Majesty told us."

"How was it argued that you weren't involved?" His voice was only just a tad softer then.

Rahela folded her hands under her bosom. "After the Empress Dowager first experienced symptoms, she began lending me some of her pieces. She'd choose the pieces, and I'd wear them. I'd even kissed some of them. If I had poisoned Her Majesty, if would've been ridiculous of me to touch the jewelry so intimately."

He changed.

His hand left the bench's seat; it gripped his thigh instead. His spine straightened. Those dark eyes of his both turned wide and focused. The worst thing was the grin.

It was unnatural to Rahela, his lips were so stretched out that she wondered if she could count his teeth. It was almost as if the lips could break through the face's boundaries and form a truly impossible smile. When those teeth only just parted, but his lips didn't move for a spoken word, that was when Rahela's brain seemed to fail.

A frozen kind of dread swirled in her belly and legs. Her fingers tightened and her breath quickened.

He got up. It was a swift movement. Rahela wanted to jump.

Still bearing that horrible, piercing visage, he stepped over to her, raising his hands.

Rahela's brain managed to strike something. She was able to take one step backwards.

The Emperor was holding her waist within a few seconds, although Rahela had barely recognized the touch. His face was burning far too well in her sight. He was branding it into her mind.

She was lifted, spun around. The world was melded for a time, and Rahela got a tiny headache. When she was put back to her feet, she had to lean into the man, holding her own face and wobbling.

One of his arms wrapped around her, and his breath warmed the top of her head. "Have you told me everything?"

Of course not.

Rahela blinked a few times. "I can't think of anything else to tell you."

"Hm ... acceptable." He patted her back. Each touch brought a flinch. "Go then. Go on to your attendants."

***

"It will be glorious!" That's what Princess Tuya said. "The anticipation is so delicious!"

The Empress Dowager nodded. "Yes, I trust the sculptors. Their work will be beautiful."

The Emperor shrugged. "If it's not up to our standards, I'll have the piece sold off and commission a new one."

Rahela was quiet.

The large group of people were walking through one of the beautiful gardens. Now that spring was here, plenty of beautiful flowers had opened up. Some of the statues there seemed old, but still in fine condition. They soon found the statue they'd wanted to see. The sculptors were standing near it. Over the statue, there was a large cloth, hiding it. Once everyone was standing before the statue, the sculptors bowed and removed the cloth.

Roughly the same size as Rahela, although taller because it was on a pedestal, a statue of a Testoan princess was in place. She had a gown with long and dangling sleeves, which had borders of squares divided into triangles. One hand held up the gown's skirt, revealing another dress underneath. The folds and ripples in the fabric were exquisitely defined.