"Where is your king?" demanded the prince."I don"t know," said Alfred holding up his hands. "When I last saw her, she was in this room."
"You will be placed into the dungeon until she is found! This is ridiculous for a visiting royal to act in such a manner!" growled the princess.
"I a.s.sure you my King means no harm to you or your kingdom," said Alfred, turning docilly to go along with the guards who were to take him to the dungeon.
"If she means no harm, then explain why she has refused to stay put while we try to deal with internal affairs," demanded the prince.
"Perhaps because you have made our stay inhospitable and your overall demeanor towards us has been incredibly hostile," snapped Alfred, turning back to the royal pair.
"How dare you speak as such to us!" cried the prince, stomping his foot. "We may not be your king, but as the ruling power in this kingdom, you will show us some respect!"
Alfred stood there, looking at them for a moment as the two panted in anger. Aella stepped up beside him, patting him on the head and causing all of the dwarves in the room to jump back in surprise and shock.
"Don"t worry about it, Alfred. I have this," she chuckled, forming a black blade and charging at the twins.
The guards all around the room immediately charged into action, attempting to defend their prince and princess, but Aella merely teleported around them, appearing behind the terrible two, and stabbed them both in the back.
"I"m tired of dealing with the two of you. Hopefully the next heir will be better suited for the task of running a kingdom," she said, winking at the guards who stood there in shock and horror as the two dwarves crumpled to the ground. "Alfred?"
He stepped forward, pushing past two of the guards who were standing still in confusion, and paused at her side. Aella went to teleport away, but couldn"t help but notice the blank looks on many of the guards" faces. Had they been controlled by magic? That was an interesting concept she hadn"t considered.
"The prince and princess are dead!" cried one of the guards, rushing to their sides. "Did anyone see who killed them?"
The other guards started looking around, fear and uncertainty on their faces.
"Forgive us, Demon King, but we will need to move you and your companion to a safe location while an investigation is started! We cannot risk your lives as well, until the killer is found!" said another guard, motioning for them to follow him.
"Is this really..?" started Alfred, but Aella motioned for him to be silent and to follow the guard.
The room that the guard took them to was really nice, but dusty, as if it hadn"t been used in a long time.
"I"m not sure why the room isn"t clean," he admitted, looking around in disbelief. "I"ll see if I can get someone in to tidy it for you. Please wait here, and I"ll have your supper prepared as well."
"Thank you," said Aella, nodding to the guard as he bowed and left.
"What just happened?" asked Alfred.
"Hold that thought. I"m going to grab Frederik and check on something," said Aella, wondering if the older dwarves she had left Frederik with would also be affected by the magic of the twins.
"Alright, but this better be good. That alter in the deep forges was creepy."
Aella teleported back to the room, causing the dwarves to jump in surprise, and Frederik hurried to her side.
"Is it done? Are the twins dealt with?" asked the older dwarf with the long beard.
"Yes, but it seems there was a side effect to their deaths," she said, looking around at the various faces around her. "Why do I feel as if you aren"t telling me everything? I hate to be left in the dark. It has a tendency to bring out the worst in me."
The dwarves cleared their throats and coughed a bit, but none seemed interested in offering up any information.
"All right. Frederik how do you feel about gaining a few thousand slaves to dig our mines and smelt our ore?" she asked, turning to the demon beside her.
"What?! Wait! You wouldn"t dare!" sputtered the old dwarf with the long beard.
"And why not? You asked me for help in freeing you from one oppressor, but you never considered the ramifications. None of you know me."
"But we had a deal!" declared the dwarf that had originally shown her down to this secret meeting place.
"And you withheld interesting information from me," she said. "Who is behind the magical compulsion of the guards, and what else is there I should know?"
"The twins had a curse placed on them at birth, by their mother," muttered one dwarf from the back, who hobbled into the light. His beard was braided into a thick braid that almost dragged on the floor. "I was supposed to rule this kingdom, after the death of my brother, but his wife wouldn"t hear of it. She disappeared into the royal treasury, snooping into the back corners of the oldest of treasures, finally reappearing right before the birth of the babes, carrying a magical scroll. She had decided that the two would rule after the death of their father, to spite me, but it cost her life."
"So, the curse did what?" demanded Aella, wondering what kind of effect killing them would have on her.
"It would ensure that every word they said to another dwarf, would be followed and obeyed. It caused all manner of trouble as they grew up, when even the king, their father, had to follow their orders. He did what he could, to placate them, and keep them out of trouble, but as they got older, they also became greedier. I begged him to kill the brats before he died, but he couldn"t. Part of the curse caused him to love them over his own people. I offered to do it for him, and he threw me into the dungeon. Things have gone down hill every since. But if you have now dealt with them, we can attempt to right the wrongs they have done to our people."
"This curse, did it have anything else tied to it that I should know about?" she asked, furious that they refused to tell her all of this. She still would have killed the brats, but it wouldn"t have been so confusing when the guards came out from their spells.
"There had to be a reason none of you have killed them before now," demanded Frederik.
"We couldn"t," admitted the brother to the old king. "That was one of the first things the king made us swear at the birth of the twins. He knew the trouble they might cause and wanted to make sure none of us would kill them."
"That"s horrible. Doesn"t sound like a good king to me. Why would he do that?" asked Aella.
"Magic partly, but the other part, I think is that he honestly loved those kids and missed his wife dearly."
Aella shook her head. She knew that magic was powerful stuff, but she didn"t think love was like that. If it was… maybe she could use it in the future.
"Then perhaps I will leave the mess that is left to all of you. I will take my people and the stone tablet and leave. How long do you think it will be before the issue with the elves is resolved?" she asked, turning to take Frederik by the arm and leave.
"Inform the elves that we are working on it, and that a representative will be available to speak with them in three days time," said the old dwarf, bowing to her in thanks.
Teleporting to the room she had left Alfred in, she turned to Frederik. "What do you think of everything they said?"
"It seems this place is a mess and I can"t wait to leave," said Frederik with a shake of his head.
"So?" asked Alfred, looking back and forth between them. "What"s going on?"
"It"s a long story," said Aella, shaking her head as well. "We"re going to grab that tablet and get out of this mountain. I"ve spent plenty of time underground to last me a lifetime."
"I agree," said Frederik, glancing around the dusty room.
"I wouldn"t mind being out in the light again," admitted Alfred, stepping closer so she could teleport them. "Will we be coming back here any time soon?"
"Maybe once we are ready to consider trade with them," conceded Aella, glancing over in the corner where she knew that dwarves were listening to them through the wall. "I wouldn"t mind seeing how they deal with the issues their kingdom is dealing with. Magic is nothing to play around with."
"But isn"t that what you do every day?" asked Alfred, raising an eyebrow.
Aella just grinned and teleported them away. Bob better appreciate this!