Chapter 47: Enraged Pursuit

Radu burst into his sister’s private chambers, his face livid with rage. His hair was uncharacteristically disheveled, and he stalked rather than walked. His clothes were rumpled, and his hands were held in tight fists. “Where is Zynna!”

Vondi looked up from the parchment she was poring over, her hands settling onto the hard wood table. Her eyes reflected her surprise at the intrusion. Though he was the emperor, it was unlike Radu to enter any chamber without knocking. Most especially, however, he had never before entered her chamber without knocking. As far as she could remember, he hadn’t done it since they were teens when he caught her petting her petals.

Her room was orderly and fastidiously clean. Her bed was made, not a wrinkle in sight on the bright, colorful spread. Her room reflected her mind – clean and orderly. Everything had its place and was returned to its place when it was no longer needed. The only disarray

“She and Tepi left for the summer castle,” Vondi said, her face echoing her curiosity. The two had left late yesterday evening, citing the strain of meeting with the other monarchs. Vondi had thought it strange, but she understood the need for a vacation from time to time. “I thought you knew.”

“No, I didn’t know,” Radu growled between clenched teeth. “Send out the Imperial Army and bring her back. In chains, if you have to.”

Vondi’s eyes widened, and she rose from her chair, the parchment she had been perusing, in counterpoint, drifting lazily across her desk. “What’s going on?”

“Werten received a message from Audette this afternoon,” Radu bit off, his eyes flashing. Vondi had, of course, seen Radu in fits of pique and anger before. As his sister, she’d often tormented him into them herself when they were children. She’d never seen him quite this angry before. “From a par-falcon. Thanks for informing me about that little tidbit of information, by the way.”

“Werten came to me,” Vondi said in confusion. Her brother, one of the most equanimous people she’d ever met, was in a towering rage. For the first time ever, she was afraid of him - even if only slightly. “He said it was a gift. I thought he’d request permission from you first. You know I wouldn’t keep something like that from you.”

“People are keeping a large number of things from me,” Radu seethed, barely maintaining his control. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to break something, and he wasn’t quite sure if it would be furniture or people by the time he was through. “It ends now. I want to know everything.”

“You’re angry Audette was given a gift?” she asked in confusion, vainly trying to calm her brother. “Zynna didn’t even have anything to do with it.”

“No,” Radu said slowly, elongating the word to three syllables. His voice continued snarling as he bit out the rest. “I’m angry because I’ve sent my beloved daughter to Wenland with a guard you picked to keep her safe and whom my traitorous bitch of a first wife subverted in an effort to kill her.”

“Kill her?” Vondi gasped. She felt her blood begin to boil and her hand started to tremble. “Is she...? Is Audette...?”

“She’s fine,” Radu said, his angry eyes narrowing. His words became brittle and his voice cold. “No thanks to you. I specifically told you to pick trustworthy guards, Vondi. I trusted you to take care of her.”

Vondi could feel the rage overtake her. She lifted her open hands at her brother. “Don’t blame me. I didn’t want her to go in the first place. I picked the best guards available. I perused their records and interviewed them thoroughly. They were supposed to be loyal – everything I read and everyone I asked assured me they would be loyal.”

“They weren’t,” Radu growled.

“And you’re sure Zynna was involved?” Vondi snapped back at him.

“Audette interrogated the remaining two conspirators herself,” Radu sniped. “Of the twenty sent with her, twelve were turned. TWELVE! Is that what you call vetting them, Vondi? Is that how you take care of your niece?”

“Uuntred,” Vondi yelled in response. The non-sequitur halted Radu’s raging voice for a moment.

“Your Excellency,” the Royal Guard replied as he entered the room. As usual, he had followed the emperor and stationed himself just outside the door. He was tense and stiff as he entered; it was the first time he’d ever heard such an argument taking place between the Emperor and his Right Hand. They’d disagreed before but it had never risen to this level. But then, he’d never known anyone to be a traitor to the Empire.

“I want three army platoons to leave immediately,” Vondi started, her voice husking with seething rage. “Send them to find Queen Zynna and bring her back – in chains. Her son as well; I’m sure he had a hand in this. You make sure they’re alive enough to be questioned but drag them back behind a stinking horse if you have to. Have five more platoons round up her Royal Guard and another five round up all the Imperial Guard, except for you and whoever you have with you. They are to hold the Korthan Royal Guard and the Imperial guard separately until Arch-Wizard Werten and I can question them. Once you’ve done that, summon Joric to my quarters.”

“Your Excellency?” Uuntred questioned in surprise.

“NOW, Uuntred,” Vondi spat out. The man bowed and quickly backed out of the door, closing it behind him.

She turned to her brother and matched him glare for glare. “Give me the whole story, Radu.”

For minutes, the two of them stood there, breathing heavily. Their eyes never wavered, and each could feel the hot heat of rage coming off the other in waves. Radu’s hands cycled through being gripped into fists and releasing while Vondi’s flexed into claws before relaxing only to flex into claws once again.

“She made it a few days into Wenland,” Radu finally broke the silence. His temper never wavered but he realized he might have been taking it out on the wrong person. Still, he’d expected his sister to be as careful of Audette as he himself would.

It ate at him that he’d sent his daughter into danger but even more that the danger hadn’t come from the expected direction. He’d worried about Wenland, never thinking the true danger would lie so close to home. He knew Zynna had been upset at him passing up Tepi. She doted on the boy, blind to his cruel predations and manipulations. He had not expected outright treason from the woman.

When he first entered Vondi’s room, he’d thought she was complicit. He admitted to himself he wasn’t thinking too clearly at the time. Vondi was as devoted to Audette as he was. All he could think of at the time was the danger his daughter had been in. The danger to which he had sent her.

“She was lucky,” he said. “Ilzu Fareen thought something strange was going on and alerted her. The traitors gave no warning when they attacked. They slit the throats of a number of Red Guard before she knew what was going on. They fought for a while but were badly outnumbered and were down to just her and Ilzu when they were rescued.”

“Rescued?” Vondi snarled the question.

“Evidently, Princess Ataya survived whatever the Tinsto imposter was trying,” Radu replied, his own voice harsh. “The Princess’ party rescued her. They’re accompanying her to the capital.”

“So, she’s okay?” Vondi asked, relief cutting through her rage.

Radu’s head bowed and when he looked back up, his eyes were wet with tears. “She has a few cuts and bruises, she says, but she’s fine. She says she was saved by the biggest knight she’s ever seen. He walked through the Imperial Guard and Red Guard traitors like they weren’t even there.”

“I guess you were right to be cautious against the Wenland knights,” Vondi said, her own anger boiling down to a simmer.

“Yeah,” Radu answered, shaking his head. “I don’t feel right, though. I feel completely wrong.”

He sighed and turned to his sister. “I’m sorry to rage at you like that. When I read that note ... I couldn’t even think straight anymore. I spent half an hour searching through Zynna’s rooms with a sword. I’m not sure what I was planning on doing with it exactly.”

He snorted and shook his head again. “I take it back. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.”

“I know I sent her there,” Radu said, his voice trembling with emotion. “I know I sent her into danger. I didn’t expect her to take danger with her. When I ... when I realized what I’d done ... what could have happened to her ... what I sent her into ... I’m afraid I lost myself.”

“You owe me no apologies, Radu,” Vondi groused. “If anything, I’m angrier at myself than you could possibly be. I vetted those men and women. I checked and re-checked. I went through the list of our top Imperial Guard. I went through the list of our top Red Guard. How could I have possibly been so wrong?”

“A question for another day,” Radu said grimly. “Though I will be changing the evaluation of our guard. All of our guard, Red, Imperial, Army ... the lot of them.”

“Is she ... did they take her prisoner?” Vondi asked.

“Who? Audette?” Radu shook his head. “No. Evidently, she’s the only one who has succeeded in this chaos-forsaken mess. She made them believe her. She explained the rogue Reds, the Arlade Tinsto imposter ... everything.”

Radu couldn’t help a slight smile of pride. “They believed her, and she is their guest as they make their way to the capital. Evidently the imposter caused some trouble for the Third Royal Platoon even before we scried. Audette didn’t go into details, however. She was worried about me. She thought an attack on her might be a prelude to an attack on me.”

Vondi’s eyes widened. “I ... In my anger, I didn’t even think of that aspect.”

Radu couldn’t believe it, but Vondi’s eyes widened even more. “Chaos! She’s right. You could be in danger ... and I sent Uuntred away!”

Radu clutched Vondi’s shoulder before she could turn away. “Stay. I’ve a guard of four. Well, three, with Uuntred gone. I’m stupid but not foolish. I doubled my minders as soon as I’d read Audette’s letter. I handpicked them myself based on their loyalty. Uuntred, of course, but also Mella, Kersey and Dross.”

Vondi nodded absently, her face a mask of pain and horror. She considered the four guards. “They’ve been with you almost from the beginning. They should be fine.”

Vondi started trembling and clutched at the back of a nearby chair for stability. “Radu ... Radu, I’m sorry. I picked the best ... I never once thought our guards would be disloyal. It never occurred to me – all of those I selected have been in the various guards for years.”