Chimes at Midnight

“I will do my best,” he replied, and ran ahead of me into the treasury. The angry voices promptly acquired a note of panic. I guess adding an angry Cait Sidhe with some aggression he needed to work off had changed the character of their party. I didn’t bother hurrying. Those poor guards were already in enough trouble.

When I stepped inside, I found four guards on the floor, two more trying to reach Dianda without being hit by her expertly-swung tail, and another being held off the floor by a snarling Tybalt. I stepped around the bodies, stopping just outside of Dianda’s hitting range and holding up the vase. “I found you some water,” I said.

“Oh, good.” She slammed her tail into one of the guards. He toppled over. She took aim at the other. “Hold on to it for right now, I’ll get it in a second.”

“Okay.” I turned to survey the guards on the floor. Two of them appeared to be conscious. One was wearing a very fancy tunic. That probably made him part of the chain of command, although I couldn’t have guessed at his rank. I knelt beside him, smiling. “Hi.”

His eyes widened. Being smiled at by a bloody, too-calm woman in the middle of a pitched battle was probably a little disconcerting. “You are under arrest in the name of Her Majesty the Queen,” he said, his voice shaking.

“Mmm, no, I’m not,” I replied. “Her Majesty, Queen Arden Windermere in the Mists, sent me. This is an illegal holding. The Queen who’s been doing business here? Turns out she’s a fake. Who knew, right?” I leaned closer. “Your mistress has gone to answer Arden’s challenge. This is your chance. Change allegiances now, stop attacking us, and we’ll tell Arden you helped. Don’t . . .” I glanced over my shoulder at Tybalt. He had grabbed Dianda’s other attacker, and was slamming her against the wall. I turned back to the guard. “Well, you can see what happens if you don’t.”

The guard looked at me for a few long moments. I looked back, not allowing myself to break eye contact. I was gambling on his loyalty to the Queen being weak—something that wasn’t much of a stretch, given the way she treated everyone I’d ever seen her interacting with.

Finally, he said, “Help me up.”

“Are you going to try to take me hostage?” I asked, as I took his hand and helped him climb awkwardly to his feet. “Because that would really be a lousy move on your part.”

“I know who you are, daughter of Amandine,” said the guard. He let go of my hand, turning to the rest of the room. “In the name of Her Majesty, the Queen of the Mists, I order you to stand down.”

“Your Queen is a fake,” said Dianda, propping herself up on one elbow and glowering.

“My fealty is sworn only to the throne, not to she who sits upon it,” the guard replied. “Long live Queen Arden Windermere of the Mists.”

The other guards—the ones who were still conscious, anyway, which wasn’t most of them—turned to stare at him. Tybalt kindly stopped using his guard as a basketball, releasing the woman to stagger back to her feet and frown at her superior officer.

“How many troops did the Queen leave to hold the knowe?” I asked.

“Thirteen,” said the guard. “I am the ranking member of the guard still here.”

“Good. Then you can let the rest know that there’s been a regime change.” I smiled thinly, aware of just how ghoulish that had to look, considering my current condition. “If the old Queen tries to retreat, she’s going to find herself with nowhere she can retreat to.”

“Impressive as it is to watch you erode the loyalties of everyone around you, can I get that water now?” asked Dianda.

“Of course.” I walked over and handed her the vase. Dianda dumped its contents over her head, washing away some of the blood—and all of her scales. Her tail disappeared as the water ran along her body, replaced by bare, bloody legs.

“Much better.” She dropped the vase to the floor. It shattered. She climbed to her feet and said, “As the ranking noble—no offense, Tybalt—”

“None taken.” He sounded amused.

“Good. As I was saying, as the ranking noble currently present, I claim this knowe in the name of Arden Windermere, rightful Queen in the Mists. Do not challenge me. I am out of patience, and I have such a headache.”

“That’ll be the iron,” I said. I turned to the guard. “We need an alchemist. She’s been in your dungeon long enough to get sick, and since she’s not committing treason by backing the rightful monarch, that’s technically a declaration of war against the Undersea.”

“You people are certainly fond of declaring war against the Undersea by mistake,” said Tybalt. “I am pleased the Court of Cats has not managed to do this during my tenure.”

“We live in interesting times.” I moved to stand beside him. The guards were groaning as they woke up. “We found the hope chest and Dianda, and we technically just conquered the Queen’s knowe.”

“Yes. Not to mention the rest of it.” Tybalt ran a finger along the sharpened peak of my ear.