How Not to Poach a Unicorn

Twenty-Five

Cariolta was far less accepting of her fate. "Vestin! Friend! Cousin! Why are you doing this? You know me. I didn't die in the fire at the palace. I wasn't even there that day. Why can't you believe me?" She started
to weep.
Vestin clapped slowly. "A very convincing performance, miss, but
Princess Cariolta escaped those flames and came straight here. In fact, she agreed to be my bride. Isn't that right, my dear?"

On cue, Princess Cariolta stepped out from behind the dais to join Prince Vestin. She moved with elegance and grace and fell in naturally at the side of the Prince. "Yes, my love, you protected me and you will help me rebuild my shattered kingdom."

Her response seemed painfully scripted and it made Prag wince, but he had to admit that the disguise was flawless. The voices were even almost a perfect match. She looked a little more delicate, slightly more feminine, but then again she hadn't been trudging through the wilderness for the past few months.

Prag was impressed, but his royal companion was flabbergasted. "Cariolta?" she shouted in relief. "You're alive!" Her voice dropped an octave as she spoke. "But who was burned at the palace?"

The young man's voice coming from the captured princess caught the entire room off guard. Prag, as usual, was the first to bring voice to the situation. "Come again?" he blurted.
"Cariolta, it's me, Prinin! Remember, I left that day dressed as you!" His boyish voice echoed through the chambers as the confused group put the pieces back together.
Kish leaned and whispered to Prinin, "She's the imposter, love. We saw Cari's body ourselves... I'm sorry." 

Prinin started to weep and slumped into Kish's chest as Vestin and his Cariolta began to chuckle. "A man?" Vestin laughed. "How could a man expect to impersonate my perfect fiancée?" They strode calmly down the steps to the marble floor to join the prisoners.

Once out of the earshot of the half-deaf king, Prince Vestin began to speak in a lowered voice. "My dear boy, it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to be executed this afternoon for treason regardless." He smiled with an evil that shouldn't exist in a man.

"Why are you doing this, Vestin?" Prince Prinin shot back. "We were friends; our families have been allies for centuries. Your nation is a peaceful paradise, why would you risk war?"

Vestin laughed. "Peaceful paradise, you say? Corrupt and rotten to the core." His eyes grew wide with passion and excitement. "Unity is found only through a common enemy! My splintered nation is full of conspiracy and treachery bred through complacency and security. We've been so long your ally and neighbour that we have forgotten war from without and are turning on ourselves," he snapped viciously. "And through thisb new war that I have made, I will expand my territory twofold and be king of two nations. I will shred the barbarian hordes of Desidan and feast upon their foolish child king, leaving them just strong enough to be an ever present enemy of my peoples, but no threat. Even less so without their precious Battle Maiden." He was ranting manically but maintaining his hushed tone so as to not wake the king. "With my princess, I will unite two nations and reign supreme over the pathetic peoples." He licked his lips to add disturbing emphasis.

The false Cariolta interjected, "With his and my kingdom united, we will usher in a new era of prosperity for both. Vestin will lead the Canerian army headed by Mercutian's Reapers and unite the fractured and disorganized troops of Haelund." She smiled mockingly at Prinin. "We'll be praised as heroes. And nobody that would ever recognize me as an imposter survived the castle fire. I have to thank Cariolta for being such a shut-in. Your little trip from home was the first time in ages that she'd been away from the palace alone in years."

"You're both completely mad!" shouted Prinin. "Thousands will die meaninglessly."

"Of course they will." Vestin sounded ravenous. "It is war, isn't it? Wouldn't they have died anyway if you had led them? This war was inevitable. We're just taking advantage of it." He brushed Prinin's curly blonde hair back out of his face, gently. "It saddens me, though, that the real Cariolta had to die for my glory. I did care for her once." He grabbed Prinin roughly and kissed him deeply before throwing him back. "Sorry I can't stay for your execution, dear, but I have a war to fight and I wouldn't want to give the impression that your lives are worth my time. Guards!" he shouted "Escort these traitors to the executioner." Twenty men filed in along with a half-dozen Reapers. Prag and Prinin were then marched out of the throne room. Kish remained chained and guarded by the Reapers in the room but otherwise was largely ignored.

"My Lord, before you leave, I have brought you a mighty gift." Mercutian bowed deeply and presented the sword of Lord Cailo in its exquisite white and silver scabbard. "It is a meteoric blade. If you can raise it above your head, then you are truly a mage of power to rival even that of the dread King Ashunar."

The old wizard laid the sword on the castle tile and released his spell over it. The tile beneath it immediately cracked under the weight. The Prince smiled confidently, hovered his hand above the immaculate blade and began to mumble softly, summoning magic to him and forming a spell to lift the blade.

Prinin and Prag secretly exchanged glances as they were marched through the corridor back to the courtyard and the dungeon beyond. Prinin was trying to silently discuss possibilities of escape and Prag was attempting to reconcile the fact that his travelling companion had been
a man all along. Neither were getting very far. However, as they walked, a wild torrent crashed down the hallway and into the throne room. It smelled like the colour of blood and went entirely unnoticed by all but Prinin and a single guard who was suddenly and violently ill.

Prinin inhaled deeply through his skin and a half smile crossed his luscious red lips. New possibilities had just presented themselves as he focused on holding a little of that magical torrent inside of him. "You could be a wizard, Private," he said to the retching guard. He smiled and marched on more confidently out the doors, past the dozing dragon and on into the dungeon keep.