Schemes Read online

  Table of Contents

  Schemes (Tranquility, #5)

  The Year of Letters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Author’s Note

  SCHEMES

  Krista D. Ball

  Bethany returns to Taftlin to uncover a plot to assassinate King Arrago and Prince Henry. She enlists some interesting allies along the way, including an elderly duchess with a sharp tongue and an eager apprentice knight, and together they race against the clock.

  SCHEMES copyright 2015 Krista D. Ball

  Schemes by Krista D. Ball

  Cover by http://skyladawncameron.com/indigochickdesigns/

  Editing by M.L.D. Curelas

  Proofreading by Thea van Diepen

  The Year of Letters

  Arrago,

  I’ve arrived in Wyllow and have settled in as best as possible. I forgot how much I hated this place. I can’t say I’ve arrived in safety because I don’t believe I am safe. Oh, no one is going to kill me—yet —but no one is meeting my eye, either. I speak to the Council tomorrow. That should be interesting. Don’t worry. I have the plan well-rehearsed and they won’t shake me.

  Jud is here. Apparently, he’s planning to speak to the Council tomorrow, too. Rumour has it he has been stirring up trouble the entire time we’ve been all fighting the war. My friends in the Wyllow guard warn me tomorrow might not go well. They’re actually concerned, which is worrying me. Jovan isn’t here yet, obviously, so I do feel alone. It was always the three of us, with Allric protecting our backs. But it’s just me now.

  I think I’m paranoid. What can they really do? They’ll yell and berate us, but beyond some condescending glares, they are toothless. The few who knew about me before protected me. And now that everyone knows I’m Apexia’s daughter, well, shouldn’t that afford me even more protection? I don’t know. There’s something wrong here. I can’t put my finger on it.

  My candle’s almost out, so I’ll end now. I’ll finish this once I’m done in front of the Council.

  All my love,

  Bethany

  Arrago, I cannot write more. It’s really bad. I’m smuggling this letter out now. I’ll get Lendra to write when she can. She should still have the freedom to write. I hope. Whatever happens, I love you.

  ****

  Attention: Marcia, Queen of Ellentop

  Marcia, I need your help. Please write to me and tell me what has happened here. I don’t know who to trust anymore. Don’t send through normal post. They’re reading my letters.

  Bethany

  ****

  Bethany, heed my words: Do not trust any knight that did not go to Taftlin or that you do not know implicitly. I’ve sent my personal lady-in-waiting to carry this missive to you. She knows all that has happened while you were away and can answer any questions you might have. It is safer than letters. Hopefully, my name still carries enough weight to provide you with enough privacy to have a conversation.

  The rumours concerning you and King Arrago have long reached me. I don’t know if they are true, but if there is even a kernel of truth there, leave now. Get on the first merchant ship heading north and get out of that snake pit while your head is still on your shoulders. Leave and never come back.

  Marcia

  ****

  Arrago,

  I have received six of your letters demanding information, and I apologize that my previous notes were not sufficient. I needed time to procure a reliable courier. You will understand shortly.

  First, Bethany is alive. For now. She spoke in front of the Council, but they didn’t want to hear her details of the war. Nor were they interested in my account. Instead, they interrogated both Bethany and myself for four days about Apexia. In particular, the events surrounding Sarissa’s death. Bethany held her own and she was not rattled. But they didn’t believe her.

  At the end, they convicted her of sedition. Since the priests have not chosen Aneese’s successor, they had Mother Katherine speak at the hearing. Mother Katherine refused to declare Bethany a heretic, and said she knew Father Torius had given his consent for a Holy War. She said Father Torius and Mother Aneese both supported Bethany completely and that any attempt to smear her name was unjust.

  Mother Katherine died of a heart attack three hours later. An hour after that, the Council appointed Wyllow’s priest, Father Roc. Father Roc had been Torius’s most vocal adversary. Aneese hated the man. So, Father Roc told the Council that there was no official edict from Torius or Aneese proving they’d granted Bethany sanction to invade the North.

  The Council declared Bethany a heretic. Lord Jud declared her a traitor by committing seditious acts. There’s been no trial. Just declarations. This isn’t even legal!

  Bethany was to be kicked out of the knights and thrown into stocks, but all of the junior members of the council, plus myself, and even a couple senior elven members (Jovan’s parents being two of them) protested so much that Jud relented. She has been stripped of her rank and is now Apprentice Knight.

  Because of this, she has no protection. She doesn’t know the knights here in Wyllow, who are mostly very young or very old. Anyone with proper training was sent to the war, and they are still filtering back. She’s going along with it for now because she is trying to find out what is happening here in Wyllow. Lord Jud is obviously involved, but I don’t know what he is trying to accomplish. He already holds the highest position he can while a knight.

  It gets worse, if you can believe that. The Council and Jud quickly declared Erem, Kiner, and Jovan accomplices. Jovan isn’t even here yet, but he’ll arrive to discover he has been reduced to Apprentice Knight. With his parents being council members and highly respected, that doesn’t come as a surprise that they managed to keep something for him. He’s been stripped of his command, obviously, and the last I heard he will be reassigned to manage one of the penal mining colonies.

  They dragged Erem away and I haven’t been able to find him. No one will tell me anything. The official word is that he was reassigned to a secret mission in Ellentop, but it’s a lie. Erem was overheard trying to get word to Jovan, and he’s been arrested. I wish I knew where he was.

  They declared Allric a traitor against the Silver Knights, who led the order into a war. They’ve revoked Allric’s pension, which means Amber has no support. They’ve taken Bethany’s money, all of it, so she cannot help. They are “withholding” mine, so I likewise cannot help. I have some stashed away they do not know about, however, so that is how I am affording this courier.

  Arrago, you must protect Amber and Opal. Do not trust any Knights that arrive in Taftlin unless you know them. I never thought I’d say that, but the Knights are not what they were.

  I have been made Acting Ambassador to the Taftlin Court, and am being trained right now on protocols. While this appointment does afford me some leniency, I am watched constantly. I cannot even speak to Bethany alone, since she’s an apprentice again.

  It will be some time before I get can Bethany out of here. I am trying to be sent back to Taftlin as soon as possible, but the diplomatic trainers are dragging their feet. You must be patient. One wrong step at this stage and all of our heads—including yours—may decorate Wyllow’s city walls.

  Do not come here. Do not write anyone on the Council. Do nothing. Wait and listen. Be patient. You will put all of us at risk if you interfere. Send all correspondence through personal couriers. Do not use the diplomatic runners. Do not send anything through the elven post. I will write whenever it is safe to do so
.

  Lendra

  ****

  Effectively immediately, Lord Kiner, you are hereby discharged with disgrace from the Silver Knights. Your actions in the defense of the traitor Allric led to the removal of Apexia’s blessing from our lands.

  Further, I have been made aware that you are a degenerate and a disgrace upon us all. You bring shame upon the name of elf, even if you are only a half-breed.

  You are to return all sensitive documentation to the highest ranking Knight at the Imperial Palace immediately. I have issued standing orders for your immediate detainment for violation of the laws of nature and your treasonous actions against our Gentle Goddess. If you have any honour, you will return to Orchard Park immediately to face judgment for your crimes.

  Lord Defender Jud

  ****

  My dear Lannis,

  I was surprised by the contents of your latest letter. As I am a man of duty, I will, of course, follow the orders of the Elven Council. However, you must permit me, in this small way, to voice my objections to the appointment of Apprentice Knight Bethany, disgraced daughter of our Gentle Goddess, to the exalted position of personal guard to Ambassador Lendra.

  As I have already expressed my many objections to Ambassador Lendra’s own appointment, I shall spare you my thoughts on that subject. However, Apprentice Knight Bethany is one of the most junior knights in the Elven Service. By appointing her to the position of Diplomatic Commander to Taftlin, the Elven Council is undermining my authority in the assignment of my knights.

  Let us not forget the facts. The former Lady Champion Bethany was an offensive, vulgar drunkard who rutted with humans. She spat in the face of all proper decorum. She once threatened my person with violence.

  Bethany countermanded the orders of the Elven Council by putting herself in charge and then, to make matters worse, she then rescinded her power to Allric. She supported Allric, who disgraced us all by marrying his Rygent whore. Indeed, Bethany and her kind should all be in chains mining gold, as opposed to continuing to serve, in the limited sense that the word “serve” applies to these renegades.

  She is out of control and needs a strong arm to put her back into her proper place. Rewarding her with a sightseeing trip to whore around Taftlin is not the appropriate way to bring someone like her under heel. She should be put in stocks until her will is broken, be it a week or a century.

  There is also the entire business of the loss of Apexia’s blessing. Indeed, Bethany spun a tale worthy of the minstrels, but am I the only one to see it for what it truly is: a tale? It is clear her actions shamed us in the eyes of Apexia herself. Apexia’s own daughter shamed her so badly that the Gentle Goddess withdrew her blessing from us all.

  I do not believe her story that Apexia used up all of her mortal strength to end Magic. How convenient it is that the only people who can verify this story are Jovan (disgraced), Kiner (degenerate), and King Arrago (Bethany’s lover, let’s not forget that). The only other person who was there at the final event was Lord Erem, who conveniently hit his head during this encounter and only has “foggy” recollections.

  In closing, I have signed off and have permitted Apprentice Knight Bethany to be named to the Ambassador’s personal guard. However, I did so with the firm belief that this was a grave mistake that will haunt us. In keeping with this belief, I have exercised the privilege of my position and have appointed Knight Darien as Diplomatic Commander to Taftlin. While Darien has significantly less field experience, there are more important things to being a Silver Knight than the ability to roll in the mud while holding a sword.

  Yours in Apexia’s Service,

  Lord Defender Jud

  ****

  Jud, for Apexia’s sake, let it go. In a couple of months, Bethany will be sent to Taftlin for the next five years as soon as the council is done briefing the Ambassador. She is out of your hair for half a decade. Don’t make an enemy out of Bethany or Lendra! Let them both go where they will be of little consequence to you. You can continue your plans and schemes without their interference. Consider this a victory.

  Lannis, Junior Elven Council Member

  ****

  Placed in Bethany’s laundry.

  Bethany,

  Please find enclosed a copy of Juddlebug’s most recent whine about you. He’s coming for you. Protect yourself. He has the support of the senior members of the Council. There is little the rest of us can do.

  Be careful, and keep my name out of this.

  Lannis

  ****

  Placed inside a serving tray at breakfast.

  My dear Lannis, I loved your most recent gift. It was most thoughtful. Now to find you something in return.

  B

  Enclosed: three letters from Lord Jud to Senior Council Member Maja, complaining how Lannis’s power within the Council needs curtailing.

  ****

  Attention: Elven Council, Lord Jud

  This is my formal resignation from the Silver Knights. I will not stand by and watch the destruction of an order I have defended with my life over and over. Further, I refuse to take orders from a man who would lower the reputation of the Silver Knights by denying a widow and her child the pension of her dead elven husband simply because the widow’s ears were deemed an offensive shape.

  As I am entitled to a pension at the end of my years of service, please forward those payments to Amber, widow of Allric, at the Imperial Palace in Taftlin for the remainder of her life. I’m confident even Jud’s couriers can find the place.

  Lord Protector Jovan, son of Albers, son of Maja

  ****

  Attention: Elven Council

  This is my formal resignation from the Elven Council. I am appalled by the single-minded cruelty and backward stances taken by both the senior-most members of this council and by the leadership of the Silver Knights—leadership that gains its power and direction from this council.

  It is a sad day when a hero is demoted for doing the will of Apexia. How dare we demote the ranks of the dead who supported the war and fought for the council’s very survival? Has the council been struck by senility? Has the destruction of the Temple of Tranquil Mercies been forgotten?

  How dare this council support a man who believes the daughter of Apexia should be shackled in the street? This is a woman who stood against an army of evil. Without Lady Champion’s courageous act, all at the Temple of Tranquil Mercies would have died. All of Orchard Park would have burned. And we should have been the next target. For there is no mistake, Council Members, we would have been the next target, while we slept in our cozy beds with our full bellies.

  She did not have to reveal herself to the world, but she did. She revealed herself, and took on that horrible responsibility to save elven, Elorian, Rygent, and human lives. She sacrificed and risked all to be the champion for those who could not defend themselves. And you would dare reduce her to a traitor and a heretic? How dare you!

  If the Gentle Goddess has indeed removed her blessing, then it is because of our failings and not those of our war dead. Lord Allric served our people for centuries. He was one of the most decorated and honoured knights in our entire history. Instead, this council has allowed a petty dispute over an arranged marriage to cause the disgrace of a great elf.

  However, history shall bear this out. Allric cannot be disgraced. He shall always be a hero. It is all of us who will be disgraced. This Council shall go down in history as the Council that brought elven morals and values to an end.

  I will no longer serve a Council who does not have Apexia’s will at its heart.

  As I am entitled to a pension at the end of my long centuries of service, please forward those payments to Amber, widow of Allric, at the Imperial Palace in Taftlin for the remainder of her life.

  Senior Council Member Maja

  ****

  Attention: Elven Council

  This is my formal resignation from the Elven Council. My conscience will not allow me to serve a council full of senile old fo
ols who would rather listen to the advice of a preening idiot than the common sense we elves claim to have been born with.

  The branding of the late Lord Allric as a traitor is the most disgusting action ever taken by a Silver Knight and this council. How dare the senior members veto the assembly’s vote? How dare you vote to disgrace a man who gave his very life in defense of our holy Apexia’s name?

  Then, to deny his widow his pension and to leave her to shift for herself in a foreign nation with a young child is the most disgusting, despicable, and offensive action ever undertaken by a Silver Knight and I am offended on behalf of all elves. This is a gross miscarriage of morality.

  The shaming of our war heroes—in particular, Lord Kiner, Lord Jovan, and Lady Bethany—is a grievous offense that history will not reflect kindly upon any of us. Again, the senior council allowed this to happen by not doing anything. We have been given the authority by the people to make decisions and laws to continue our reign as a beacon of enlightened civilization. But we’d rather vilify the very people whose shoulders we have stood upon for the continuation of our very existence. It is easy to kick the face of the hero when he is holding you high above the muck and the mire.

  Shame upon us all. Shame.

  As I am entitled to a pension at the end of my long centuries of service, please forward those payments to Amber, widow of Allric, at the Imperial Palace in Taftlin for the remainder of her life. Be sure I will know if payment is delayed or short by so much a copper penny.

  Senior Council Member Albers

  ****

  Maja,

  My dear, of course you are welcome back in Ellentop. I never wanted you to leave in the first place. Come stay with me at the Summer Palace and we will discuss your next steps. And, please, bring Jovan. I promised Bethany I would help as best as I can.

  Do you know where Lord Erem is? Neither she nor Lendra know his whereabouts. I’m very concerned. I’ve heard rumours that he has been arrested, but I know nothing more.

  Do not reply to this letter. Simply give my servant your reply, if any. I do not trust the Knights. Those are words I never thought I’d have to write.