Instead of being taken to the throne room where those of court could see her, Alanna was brought to the private chambers of the king. She knew the area well, she had grown up in them. Now they seemed strange, slightly off, like someone's poor impression of her descriptions. The furniture and decorations looked the same but now felt alien to her.

The doors opened and in walked the most... unremarkable... man she had ever seen. He was of average height, hair normally dark, his skin was neither too pale nor too dark (and certainly was not the blue of the Lemurians), he was not unattractive but he would also never be known for one to have woman fawning over him and of a build that was neither large nor small. He was -in every way she could tell- average.

He was accompanied by two women in the flowing, scaled robes of the Xebellian Silent School. High Magisters, if she was reading their ranking stripes correctly.

"Princess Alanna Fen, I am Orus Rath," a deep, smooth voice called out. "We thought you long since perished or simply lost to us forever in the wild lands of the greater ocean." For all of his unimpressive traits, his voice was definitely not one of them. It was a deep, rich baritone with an underlying sense of genuine concern and tinged with the certainty of one who is used to giving commands. The two Magisters moved to the sides of the door but stayed near the wall as the Regent-King... "imposter king," she mentally berated herself, came to stand before her.

"While you have been away, many great and wonderful things have happened, please sit while I tell you all that has transpired in your absence." Her initial reaction was to balk, to assert her station, to call in the guards and demand to see her brother. She hesitated. His request for talk seemed reasonable and it may give her answers she needed to act on instead of acting out of ignorance. She followed him as he sat, putting her back to the Magisters.

"While you were away Atlantis and Xebel entered into a most wonderful alliance," behind her she noted the rustling of a cloak, she turned to see the Magisters still standing in the same places but were moving their arms in slow motions. Their hands were hidden by the large robes but nothing seemed amiss.

And why would she care? The Silent School was a place of learning and of magic. Something about that nagged at her briefly, then was gone.

"As I was saying," the Regent-King said, drawing her attention back to him. If he said anything after that she did not remember it. As he spoke her mind wandered and as it wandered she forgot who she was talking to, where she was or even that her mind was wandering. She simply was and that was all that mattered.

The days passed. Or was it weeks? The two lady Magisters became her friends and constant companions, but she could never remember their names nor their faces.

The last thing she thought might be a memory was of Vulko. That old seabag of hot water. He had given her something to drink, something secret... shhhh, musn't tell... and then she slipped back into her stupor. From then on time had little meaning.

In a very detached way she understood that she had married Orus, that he had come to her on their wedding night and they had produced a child. His name was... Namor? Yes, that was it. And later there was... Orin? No, that was to have been for another. Orm? Yes, Orm.

And Vulko. He was with her now, holding her hand while discussing how Namor was taking to his lessons, especially those on how a ruler should carry themselves, but that he could have a terrible temper. As he talked, the haze in her mind was slowly lifting. She began to look around the room but her attention was pulled back to Vulko as he squeezed her hand.

He was now speaking of Orm, such a precocious child. Vulko's eyes were a mix of pleading and warning as he relaxed his grip once again. "Guard," he began as he turned toward the guard stationed at the door, "might we have some time that I can speak to her openly of things known only within the royal family?"

Alanna kept her face still, betraying nothing as the guard looked at her, nodded to Vulko then left the room.

Vulko turned back to Alanna, his face returning to the old lecturer she knew well. "We don't have much time. It's taken much time but I've been able to gain enough trust from those newer members of the royal staff to secure my old teaching position and to begin seeing you. Within minutes the guard will return and I'll have to go back to pleasantries so listen closely..."

Alanna couldn't wait, "how long?"

"Alanna, we don't have ti-"

This time more sternly, "How. Long."

Vulko's expression fell a bit, making him look old and tired. "It's been seven years since you walked in from the wilderness, it's been three months since I was able to begin seeing you regularly."

Alanna was stupified. Seven years had passed. While she was not as sharp yet as she had been, her mind was still dulled enough that she couldn't quite reach the justifiable rage she knew she should have. All she could must was, "how?"

In a flash Vulko switched back to the old lecturer she remembered. "At first they used two Magisters from the Silent School to muzzle your thoughts. They made you compliant enough that you wed Orus. They lessened their magicks once you were with child then increased them again once the child was born. Both Namor and Orm are being raised to believe that their mother is the victim of a stupor caused by her travels among the surface world.

The Silent School tired of having two full Magisters stationed here and eventually refined their mind-numbing magicks so that only a mere Adept is needed to come by once a week to refresh it. This allowed me time to test various methods of countering their spells until I found an alchemical compound that is proving successful.

In order to quell descension and confusion your continued absence has created Orus has begun using his fable surrounding your muddled mind to garner power in the form of support against the surface world. Rumor has it that he is conferring with his brother Callum, the Xebel king, on plans to attack the drylanders."

Before Vulko could continue the guard returned. Alanna didn't need to fake her look of placid confusion, going over Vulko's revelations was doing that on its own.

Vulko's expressioned had softened again to what it had been earlier. "It seems I've overtaxed you with my prattling, dear. I'll be off to let you rest. I'll return tomorrow once you've had your weekly visit with your Adept friend." Sly Vulko, finishing off their conversation in such a way as to keep the guard unaware of their deception.

As Vulko left Alanna laid her head back down, she had much to think on.

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Posted by Bard

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Member since Oct 2008

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Posted on 9/30/20 at 12:09 pm to Bard

Whatever Vulko's trick had been, it was still working.

True to his word the Adept had come the next day and Vulko had followed not long after he left. Vulko had been able to talk privately with her again, detailing more of what had been going on in her... absence. The more she thought about what had been done to her, the angrier she got. Soon, she realized, she would no longer be able to hide her resistance to the mind-numbing spells. She would need to act now.

Under Vulko's careful manipulations the guards had begun stationing outside Alanna's room at night, "so as to be less likely to disturb her much-needed rest," he had explained. Once the guard left the room, Alanna made her move.

When they were growing up she and Orvax had spent many a day playing throughout the royal chambers. The castle itself had been one of the first buildings built after The Cataclysm, and as such had undergone many expansions and renovations over the millennia.

What many outside the royal family and servants did not realize was that there were hidden passages connecting every room, these had been built early on for the servants to get around more easily and without disturbing the royal family. Few servants who new of these passages remained, Orvus had been slowly weeding out Fen loyalists. Alanna knew the tunnels well for while she enjoyed the adventure of sneaking through them, Orvax felt them beneath their royal station.

Her lone wanderings through them had long ago caused her to stumble onto something lost to time and now known only to her. There were other tunnels, secret tunnels that attached only to the servant tunnels but had hidden entrances that could take her to places within the city and even one place well outside.

Alanna silently slipped from her dresser and drifted to her oversized armoire. She opened the armoire, climbed in, then closed the doors behind her. In the dark she felt for what would look to be an ordinary decorative ring. She pushed the center of that ring and the back of the armoire quietly opened before her.

She felt certain none of the current servants were using the tunnels but she still stayed vigilant as she crept through. It took time but she finally found the place she was looking for, an unassuming nook with some decorative shells built onto the walls. Touching the shells in the correct pattern caused a section of floor to unseal. She slipped below it and closed the opening after.

Alanna felt her way along the old, familiar passage. It had never had the benefit of light but there had also never been any obstacles for her to worry over. There would be plenty of light from the lichen at the end of the tunnel and just outside of it. Part of the tunnel's camouflage was that the exit was nestled into the end of a small, natural cave. The other part of the tunnel's camouflage was that the exit within the cave was covered by rocks which seemed large and heavy but were actually light and flattened to fit together over the opening.

The rocks covering the tunnel opening were covered by the same glowing lichen as just inside it. The light helped her with removing then replacing the rocks although she really didn't need it. She had long ago memorized their pattern and could put them back in the exact same places even in her sleep.

She was pleased with herself as she looked at her finished work.

A voice grumbled to her from behind, "Halt and identify yourself in the name of King Orus!" She had thought the danger of discovery lie in the tunnels, that the opening was too far outside the city to be of concern and that the shallow cave would further hide her activities. She had let her guard down while she focused on precisely replacing the rocks covering the tunnel opening. Foolish Alanna!

She turned slowly to face the speaker and his two companions. Her spirits fell upon first hearing those words, knowing she had been caught and her efforts had been in vain. They fell even deeper when she saw the trio.

She could see the two in front the clearest as they were covered in the soft glow. The nearest to her, the speaker, seemed to be no different from the many guards she had seen over her life but his nearest companion was a different story. He was build was that of a racer, his muscles were the tight, sleek variety which spoke of shocking speed. His quick but subtle movements were fluid enough for Alanna to realize she would never outpace him.

If she did manage to somehow slip by these two there was still the third one who waited just outside the glow of the lichen. She could see his frame outlined against the lighter water outside the cave and he was a behemoth. Where the other two could float almost beside one another within the cave's walls, the third guard was much too broad for that.

The last time she had been in this situation she had gone along with feigned meekness then ended up put into a mental fog for close to a decade. That would not happen again, she decided, so she took a different route.

"I am Alanna Fen Rath, Queen of Atlantis! Who are you to question me!"

The two guards nearest her shifted uncomfortably, the giant behind them made no discernable movements. "You should return to the castle with us," the lead guard finally responded. "His Highness has made no mention of your being allowed outside the city."

Allowed?!? Alanna seethed.

Again the lead guard spoke, "I'm afraid we must insist" meanwhile the guard behind locked his eyes on her as he slightly lowered his spear. She had seen his type before, he had killed before and found he liked it. He would not hesitate to kill her if his orders allowed it.

She saw she had no other choice but to go with them. Again.

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Posted by Bard

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Member since Oct 2008

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Posted on 9/30/20 at 12:09 pm to Bard

Before Alanna could make a move the two guards suddenly jerked toward each other with their heads violently slamming together! The impact was loud and jarring, both helmets were so dented she fleetingly wondered how the guards would ever get them off. Her focus on the helmets caused her attention to drift to another anomaly about them; the two helmets being held together were bracketed by hands. Very large hands.

During the confrontation with the front two guards she had not noticed the third one, the giant, moving in closer behind his companions. She certainly noticed him now as his hands, almost reluctantly, left the heads of the other two guards. Those two drifted briefly, making neither their own movements nor sounds until they were dragged away from Alanna and out of the tunnel by the massive, remaining guard. Hesitant but unsure of what else to do, Alanna followed. At a distance.

Outside the cave she found the remaining guard fashioning some kelp into bindings.

"I do not mean to seem ungrateful, but why did you do that," Alanna asked from what she felt, hoped, was a safe distance.

"I did what needed doing," he answered in his gravely voice while continuing his work. Without looking at her he asked, "are you really Queen Alanna?"

"I am."

"You trying to escape?"

She hesitated, but only for a second. "I am."

"Vulko?"

She did not answer.

She didn't know if it was because he was through with his work on the bindings or if he just wanted to look at her but he stopped his work and that point then turned to her and bowed slightly. "Your highness, my name is Murk. I was a castle guard under your brother's reign and under your father's before him." He took a step toward Alanna, she impressed herself by not backing away involuntarily. "I've been loyal to the line of Fen for longer than you've drawn water through your gills. I wasn't here to stop what Rath did to your brother, but by the green and scaly balls of Poseidon himself I'll do what I can and when I can to bring him down." He looked at the two guards floating behind him, still motionless, then looked back to her, "no matter what it takes."

Her initial assessment of him had been correct, he was indeed a behemoth. He was easily taller, wider and more muscular than any other person she had ever met. His movements hinted at a deceptive speed while his attitude spoke plainly of years of training. He had a wild, untamed quality about him but the sincerity in his words was undeniable. This was an Atlantean in mind, spirit and heart, he could prove to be an invaluable ally but she needed to be sure. "You asked me to verify myself but you had already acted against your companions. Why did you not wait before rendering them unconscious?"

Murk was taken aback by her question. "Unconscious? My lady they are dead." He gestured to the dead guards still floating behind him. "The skinny one? That's Vyren, he liked to fancy himself an assassin, called himself 'Slither' like it was s'posed to be impressive. He had an... attention... for small children. S'best I know those were the only things he killed." This last sentence was framed with obvious disgust. Alanna got the distinct feeling Vyren had been destined to die today regardless of her presence.

"And the other?"

"Xem. He was even worse."

"How?"

"He knew what Vyren was about, he just didn't care. Xem came over from Xebel with your 'husband'," Murk's tone conveyed an understanding of some sort. How much could a guard know? "Xem was one of his people he put among the guards to weed out loyalists like myself."

Alanna's mind was whirling with ideas. "I see. So how did you manage to avoid detection?"

"That's part of the tragedy, my lady. I come from an area far to the south and west of here and had gone back to visit my kin after being gone for decades. It was while I was gone that Rath betrayed the king."

This post was edited on 10/1/20 at 2:23 pm

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