~Chapter 17- Royal Troubles~

"Deporah would like to visit the Prince," Schwartz stated to the guards standing at the front gates of the castle.

"I'll call for him and see if he'll see her," A guard replied, heading towards the castle posthaste.

As Deporah waited, she twirled the rapier hitched to her hip and looked over the castle. The place looked largely untouched since Deporah had last seen it, unharmed by the depression that treaded through the rest of the city.

Guards came to the gate accompanied by Prince Norton, who had an eager smile on his face. The blonde-haired young man's blue eyes were filled with excitement.

"Deporah!" He greeted from the gate, "Let her in!"

The guards parted the gates, and they entered. One of them reached for the rapier at her hip, but Norton raised his hand, "She can keep it on her, she's safe."

"But my prince..."

"Let her keep it," Norton insisted, and the guards obliged.

As Deporah was being escorted to the castle with Norton, Schwartz smiled slyly and remarked, "Enjoy yourselves, you two."

Deporah could see Norton become anxious as soon as the guards left them be. He began giving her a tour of the castle, illuminating her on the history behind it. Many of the castle servants and staff passed them by as they traveled the corridors.

There were several portraits in one hallway of all the kings of Mortel, dating back a few centuries. Norton gave a summary of what they were known for as they passed them. In the past, there were more tyrannical kings, others were benevolent, and many were simply negligent.

They passed King Denile's painting, and the man simply did not need an introduction. He did such tremendous good for the city that could not be met since his death.

Norton stammered to fill any silence between them, even giving the architectural history of a spiral staircase leading through all the floors.

As interesting as it all was... This was not what Deporah was hoping to learn. She needed to find out more about King Whedon. But she couldn't talk to him about that where others would hear.

Deporah interrupted whatever he was talking about at the time and asked, "Could we talk alone somewhere?"

Norton's eyes widened, "Oh, umm... Whatever you like. We could go to my quarters?"

Deporah smiled, "That'll do."

She was brought to a room that was roughly the size of her childhood home with a balcony overlooking the city. When she stepped out to see the view... she was disappointed. The city wasn't a pleasant sight to see.

Norton stood beside her on the balcony, gulped, and said, "We've known each other for quite some time, haven't we?"

"We have," Deporah smiled.

"We've lived very different sorts of lives... my mother comes from a similar upbringing as you. She wasn't royalty or anything like that. But my family welcomed her anyways. Now she's queen," Norton said, sounding a little bit as if he rehearsed it.

"She's come a long way."

Norton breathed unevenly for a moment, "Yes... There's something I've been wanting to ask you. For a while now..."

Deporah paused for a moment. She knew where he was going with this. But now wasn't the time for that sort of talk.

"I think your father is up to something," Deporah stated before Norton could carry on.

"Wh-What?" Norton asked, completely taken off course.

"I saw your dad at the Kingsguard barracks today, and he was acting strangely. He was always so kind and earnest, but he seemed so callous today. He wanted to have a man executed as soon as possible," Deporah explained, "People were going missing in the city, but he insisted the Kingsguard not look into it."

Norton's blue eyes turned sullen. He shook his head, "Ever since grandfather died, my father hasn't been the same. It felt like I lost them both."

"Do you know why?"

"Grief, I think. He always talked about being a good and righteous ruler, but now that he is King... It's like he doesn't even want to try. He stopped acting like himself." Norton sighed, "It... feels like he doesn't care about us. It doesn't seem like he loves my mother anymore. She's still technically Queen, but they don't share the same room."

"So, he keeps to himself?"

Norton raised an eyebrow, "What're you thinking?"

Deporah sought the kindest way of saying it before defaulting to the truth, "When it comes to the missing people, your dad has behaved strangely. He might be involved."

Norton grew rigid. "He's changed, but he wouldn't be involved in anything like that."

"How would you know?"

"He seldom leaves the castle. He-He's in meetings all day."

"What about at night?" Deporah prodded.

Norton paused and tapped the railing of the balcony, "As far as I know, he spends most nights in his study alone."

Deporah placed her hand over Norton's, "I want to find out more. Just to be certain."

"Deporah..."

"My mother died because no one bothered to investigate more. I don't want that to happen to anyone else," Deporah answered compulsively. She was surprised at herself; she hadn't thought before speaking. It simply happened.

Norton took a breath and nodded, "Alright. We'll check on my father tonight."

"He can't know that we're watching him. I want to see how he behaves if we aren't there," Deporah urged.

Norton thought for a moment. "There's a position we should be able to watch his study from. He won't know that we're there."

Deporah and Norton waited until the sun had long set before leaving his quarters for the second floor of the castle. There was an open area where several floors could be seen, like the King's study on the first floor. Guards patrolled the halls, paying little mind to the prince and his friend.

Deporah kept a keen eye on King's study, all while Norton waited for her curiosity to be satiated. Midnight passed, yet Deporah was still insistent on watching.

"What're you expecting to see?" Norton asked in a whisper.

"In those letters, people were asked to meet at midnight. If your dad is involved, he might be up now."

"Or he's fast asleep. Like we should be."

Deporah continued to watch in silence. Norton tried to chat a few times, but her focus was on the King's study. She didn't want to miss anything.

Then, at precisely an hour past midnight, the King's study opened. The door parted, and the King slipped out. Both Deporah and Norton crouched behind the pillar from which they watched his movements. King Whedon looked both ways before beginning a solitary stroll through the castle.

"What's he doing?" Norton whispered.

Deporah placed a finger to her mouth and then pointed at Whedon. The two carefully made their way down to the first floor and found Whedon walking through the halls with his hands tucked into his robes. At that moment, Norton was just as curious as Deporah. They followed him.

The King traveled the halls with a steady but quick step. They had trouble keeping up with him without being seen. Whedon looked around him before heading down a staircase to the basement.

"What's down there?" Deporah whispered.

"Not much. It's mainly used for storage."

They carefully followed him down to the unlit basement. On the pathway to the basement was a torch and gasoline to light it, but Whedon walked right past it. Deporah did the same.

Whedon turned a few corners before coming to a stone wall and a dead end. Deporah peeked around the corner at him and watched as he placed both hands on two very particular points on the wall. He pressed, and a whirring noise stirred from within the wall.

And then he looked back.

Both Deporah and Norton tucked behind the corner that they had been peering at him from. Norton covered his mouth to keep from making a noise.

He had to have seen us.

Deporah remained as silent as possible, praying that they went unnoticed. Then she heard the same whirring again and the sound of stone surfaces sliding against one another. It went quiet, but she still didn't dare look yet.

She gathered up the courage and peered around the corner and...

The King was gone.

"Where'd he go?" An astounded Norton asked as they looked at the corridor that the King had vanished from. Deporah slipped around the corner and inspected the dead-end wall.

She felt along the stone bricks of the wall, trying to find where the King had placed his hands. She felt one of the bricks give, and pushed it. It pressed into the wall, springing back to its original position when she took her hand off.

"I think I've got something."

She circled her other hand along the wall until she found a second springy brick. She pushed them both in, and a mechanical whirring stirred from the wall. She felt the portion of the wall turn as she applied pressure to one side. She turned it, revealing a dark, descending staircase behind the wall.

"Did you know about any secret tunnels in the castle?"

"No... Not this one at least. There's an escape tunnel from the castle to outside the city, but I didn't know about this," Norton explained. He began to step toward the passage.

"Wait..." Deporah urged, "I don't think we should go down here until your dad is gone. Let's wait until he comes out, then we'll go in."

Norton was anxious to see whatever lay behind that wall but nodded in agreement. Deporah carefully spun the portion of the wall until it was back in its original position. When she took her hands off the wall, a noise spurred from it, seeming to lock it back into place.

"Hopefully he comes out soon," Norton sighed as they took their positions and waited.