The Lady Knight

Chapter XLI: Instabilities and Injuries

King Alfonso XI of Vantauge (two days prior to the kidnap)

That was it. I have had enough.

This Diego seemed to be intent on killing off the members of his illicit organisation, began by my good-for-nothing Uncle Ferdinand - both in Monrique and in Vantauge - so that I would not apprehend him. For the past three months, I had been racing against time to find at least one member in my own country.

However, every time I did, they turned out to be long murdered, or simply vanished into thin air.

It drove me to frustration. My wife was nearing seven months along with child, and I hated it that danger in the form of Diego was lurking in every corner around her at such a critical time.

This was the first time she had been with child in the last decade of our marriage, and I wanted nothing to go wrong. 

Nothing.

Julia had kept me updated on all throughout these three months, and I was also most especially concerned for her, Nicholas and his new-found brother. I was aware that she and my own Council were doing their very best to round up this syndicate that was threatening the peace of both our countries, but I had been doing investigations of my own as well.

And at long last, I had managed to locate one member. The last one standing in my country.

I was fast approaching the tavern that was my destination. Throwing myself off my stallion, I strode towards the tavern and flung its door open with every ounce of energy that I had in me. Almost at once, the crowded, noisy tavern fell utterly silent as I stood on the threshold, trembling with fury.

They would never recognise who I was. I was in disguise. However, the one man whom I had hunted down for weeks now, who was cowering away with a whiskey bottle in the other end of the dingy, stinking room, was now gazing at me with absolute terror, as if he knew exactly who I was and why I was here.

His eyes flickered to the exit, clearly contemplating escape, but before he could even finish that thought, I had sprinted towards him and lifted him up by the collar. The double helix serpent symbol branded on his right shoulder blade caught my eye, and I knew he was the one.

Dragging him out of the tavern none too gently, I strode with the vermin towards a dark, deserted alley by the corner where no one could hear us, and pushed him up against the wall.

"You are part of the Order of the Serpents, are you not? You are employed by a Master Diego?" I demanded in Spanish.

Struggling for all it was worth, he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, which reeked of stale cigar, whiskey and more cigar.

"Speak clearly!" I banged his head against the wall, keeping an iron grip on his neck.

"Aye, I am," he muttered a little more loudly, slurring his words due to the whiskey he had consumed.

I glanced at the bottle of whiskey in his hands, and without a thought, I grabbed it and aimed it over his head.

"You will answer some questions of mine," I snarled out each word such that he could hear me well and clear, "and if you do not, I will inflict such agony that you will wish you never lived. Do you understand?"

I broke the whisky bottle against the wall beside him, and held it out towards him threateningly, letting him know that I was in no mood for resistance on his part.

Fear dilated his pupils, as they travelled back and forth between my face and the bottle. "Master will kill me if I say anything, Sire," he whispered piteously, his eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears, "please, Sire, be merciful..."