A/N: Just a little scene I've been working on at home. Be warned, I do not know when I will post any more. There may be months, or even years between them.
TOC PrefaceA short Landell citizen stood at the entrance of The Grapefruit Inn. Their features were indescribable, as they had their face hidden under their large black hood. The hooded figure idly wondered why an inn, tavern more like, was called 'grapefruit' in the first place. Looking around, they saw no grape vines, or grapefruit on the menu. They took a small sniff of the air, almost being sick at the smell of moldy bread, off ale, and...does anybody here know what a bath looks like?
The inn keeper, whose eyes looked haunted by some inner anxiety, regarded the hooded figure quizzically and slowly nodded his head. When the mysterious hooded figure formally bowed back, he inconspicuously left through the back door. The hooded figure tugged it's robe even tighter around it's face and followed the man through into a hidden stairway at the back of the kitchens.
The inn keeper led the hooded figure through a corridor with only one candle to find their way, edging along the mold-covered walls and floor. The inn keeper was breathing hard, sweating profusely and continually checking to make sure no one was behind them. The hooded figure made a mental note to make arrangements for these meetings to be moved to another inn. A nervous inn keeper attracted attention.
The door at the end of the hall looked like it was on its last legs, as the inn keeper rapped a few times on it; one of the bolts fell to the ground, echoing loudly. The hooded figure next to him closed its hazel eyes that had splatters of brown in them, and suppressed a groan. The latch was loudly lifted on the other side, and the door creaked open a crack.
"Someone else is here for the meeting," the inn keeper murmured to the person behind the door. "I'm not sure if I should let them in. You did say there would only be twelve of you, didn't you?"
The hooded figure sighed and tugged the inn keeper out of the way. The person removed their hood revealing a young woman.
"Honestly," she huffed in irritation, tugging her long, flowing, golden-brown hair out of the hood. "Fron, it's me, open up." The door opened wide immediately, and a young man stood at the entry. He was at the age where his beard had just started to grow, and it had a distinctly scraggly look.
"Serena, you're late." Fron scolded fondly. "You could have put our lives in danger."
"Interesting notion," Serena answered calmly. The inn keeper started to cower his way back through the corridor when Serena placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Uh..."she said as if it was an after thought. "The spies you have can leave us to our discussions, I think." The inn keeper looked surprised, before screwing his face up into an affronted expression.
"I can assure you I have no spies here, young lady," he stated in a stiffly insulting tone.
"I've seen two in this little corridor alone," Serena stated matter-of-factly, unfazed by his tone.
"Servants for the rooms, I assure you," the inn keeper answered a little too quickly. Serena's left eyebrow quirked up in disbelief.
"What service was attended to?" a voice came from the darkened room. Strangely, Serena found her heart flutter at the voice. She knew that voice, but couldn't pick where she'd heard it.
"We've been here half an hour and no servant has been here." The hauntingly familiar voice continued.
"D-decoration...?" the inn keeper stuttered lamely. Fron blinked, looked down the moldy corridor, back at Serena's eyebrows that had almost disappeared into her hair, and covered his mouth that was threatening to bubble over with mirth.
"Well, the 'decorating' will have to be put off tonight." Serena answered the inn keeper who had his head in his hands. "We'll only be talking about putting a stop to Stralian slavery, anyway." She calmly walked past the spluttering inn keeper and into the dark room, ignoring Fron whose jaw had almost hit the floor.
"Would you close the door, Fron?" Serena asked as she took one of the last two chairs at the grubby table. What did this inn keeper have against light? "If they're going to know what we're up to, I want them to at least put in a little effort."
"If? IF?" Fron asked in exasperation. He slammed the door shut and returned to the table. "You just tell him everything, and you say 'if they're going to know'?"
"Don't make a fuss, Fron," a heavily bearded man said in a calming tone. "He knew it already. Serena would never have said it if he didn't."
"How did you know that he knew?" Fron asked Serena in confusion.
"Any one that has a tavern..." Serena started.
"Inn," corrected Fron.
"...like this one, has spies everywhere and knows everything that happens in it." Serena continued as if she had never been interrupted. She thought for a minute and then added, "But then, he knew anyway."
"Knew what?" Fron blinked and scratched his head.
"He knew, that I knew, that he knew." Serena explained with a completely straight face. Fron mentally kicked himself for not seeing that coming. He shook his head and reached for his mug of water. He didn't trust anything else to drink in this tavern, no...inn! It's an inn, he told himself.
"Now, to business," the heavily bearded man interrupted them. "Serena will lead us to the castle. We'll then go to the king's quarters. Is that right, Serena?" He turned in his creaky chair to face her.
"Right," Serena replied, now full of business. "We have to be careful, though. Judisas has spies everywhere."
"The head of the queen's guard?" the man with the haunting voice asked from the darkness. "But he is the king's most trusted advisor." He moved forward into the faint light given off by the two pathetically small candles on the table. Serena's throat caught and she forced down the gasp that was at her lips.
"Judisas is simply manipulating the king for his own devices," Serena responded, determinedly keeping her voice level. Memories washed over her like a plague. She stared at those eyes, so full of emotion. Serena gulped and forced herself to continue, ignoring her accelerating heart-rate.
"He's even pushing the king to force his own daughter into wed-lock," she finished with deep feeling.
"Sounds like this Judisas fellow would be against our cause then," the man grumbled in a put-out tone. "He was probably one of the people who came to this country and turned those peace-loving people into slaves."
"Um, h-he's a little too young to have done that, Joseph," Fron softly corrected in a small voice.
"Whatever!" Joseph retorted in a frustrated tone. Serena covered her mouth as the edges of her mouth twitched upwards. "His ancestor's did it then. Those poor Stralians. They welcomed those foreigners into their land, respected their rights and beliefs, even joined in their ceremonies! All Stralians wanted was their beliefs and rights respected in return..."
"We know, Joseph," the heavily bearded man interrupted him. "That's why we're going to do something about it tonight." Joseph seemed to realize that he was just starting to rant, and looked quite embarrassed.
"Sorry," Joseph muttered, slouching back into the blackness.
"Hmm," the bearded man leaned on his hand in thought. "I wonder how the princess stands in this. Would she willingly marry this Judisas fellow...?"
"Certainly not," Serena heatedly denied. "She's against everything that...animal lives for. She would never contemplate such a thing! She's repeatedly asked her father to discharge him. But he'll have none of it. 'A woman could not possibly understand,' he said. He's the one that doesn't get it." She finished off muttering darkly to herself.
"Sorry, Serena," the bearded man chuckled. "I forgot you had a personal interest."
"Personal interest?" Joseph leaned in again, his eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. "You know people in the royal family?"
"Y-you could say that..." Serena tried to answer casually. She swallowed and stopped herself from shrinking further back into the darkness. That would have just drawn attention to herself.
"Don't you know who she is?" Fron, oblivious to Serena's quiet bout of nervous fear, asked in astonishment. Serena's eyes widened in terror, and she started shaking her head and silently begging Fron to shut his trap.
"Would I ask her if I..." Joseph started to ask sarcastically. He stopped and squinted through the soft flame in front of him. "Wait a minute. Don't I know you?"
Serena gulped, unable to stand down that intense gaze, she sunk back into the darkness, against all her principles.
"He seriously doesn't know!" Fron chortled in glee. Serena nudged him and shook her head pleadingly. Fron gave her a strange look.
"That's not very unusual, Fron," the bearded man calmly said, fully aware of Serena's distress, and enjoying every minute. "Not everyone knows Serena is the head maid to the princess."
"So, the head maid ran out of people to attack at the castle," Joseph's voice turned to steel, and his face lost the jolly smile. "Come to find other people to shoot arrows at?"
"You wouldn't have had to be chased out if you hadn't gotten caught," Serena moved into the light, her eyes bulging in anger and all traces of nerves gone. Joseph looked affronted and opened his mouth to give a retort.
"Oh," Fron exclaimed in realization, he turned to Serena. "So this is the idiot you had to rescue."
"Ey!" Joseph ended up saying. "She wasn't trying to rescue me! Shoot an arrow through my heart, more like."
"If I wanted to hit you," Serena objected through gritted teeth. "I would have hit you."
"I'm not an idiot," Joseph grumbled threateningly at Fron. Fron sidled his chair closer to Serena.
"You could've fooled me," Serena threw back. Joseph glowered at her and she glared back. "If I let Judisas shoot at you, you would be dead."
"Oh, so what you did was a mercy?" Joseph asked disbelievingly. He rolled up his shirt sleeve to show a scar on his lower arm.
"I shot just close enough to stop Judisas' suspicions," Serena stood up, her hands on her hips and her voice stubbornly strong.
"Just close enough?!" Joseph stood as well, his voice perplexed and his arms out wide.
"If you weren't flailing your arms about like that, it wouldn't have got hit," Serena almost spat. Joseph's arms immediately went to his sides.
"I didn't flail my arms," Joseph denied indignantly. There was a chuckle from the chair in between them. Both Serena and Joseph glared at the smirking Fron in annoyance.
Joseph sat back down, slouched back and folded his arms grumpily. Serena stiffly sat down, her hands clenched and her back straight.
"You can trust that Serena is a good bowman," the bearded man assured Joseph. Joseph sent Serena a withering look, which she ignored.
"Time is starting to run away from us," the bearded man rose, and turned towards Serena. "We need to leave before daylight."
tbc
