MINIQA OF RAMES

BUFF AND GRUFF

"My oh my!" exclaimed Pascal with sarcasm dripping off his voice. "I see the most beautiful of heads."

"I will not have these two miscreants terrorize me." The imp said again but the two dwarves he was referring to were even more amused. They poked each other and burst out laughing, apparently amused by the imp's outburst.

"Miscreants!" they said between bouts of laughter much to the annoyance of the now unkempt Imp. Then as one, Buff and Gruff came to embrace me.

"we missed you." They said together and heaven knew I had missed them too. Both being dwarves, Buff was the taller and Gruff the thicker.

"it's been so long," Buff said, obviously the mouthpiece of the duo. I looked to Pascal as I kneeled embracing the dwarves. I willed him to convey my thoughts.

"oh, she means to ask why you are here and why you didn't tell her you were coming. She is happy to see you two though." Pascal delivered my thoughts with a bored tone. He finished with a flip to his hair and a roll of his eyes.

"we came to give you something," Gruff said holding his hand out to a clueless Buff.

"What?" the confused looking buff shrugged.

"The letter," Gruff stated an impatient edge to his voice.

"What letter?" Buff asked in the moment he seemed to remember the whereabouts of the said letter. He fished so deeply into his pocket that he seemed to visibly strain trying to get his short hands all the way to the end. Pascal was tapping his foot impatiently on the floor and Gruff's stare at Buff was intensifying by the second, I tried to hide my amusement at the fact that Buff must have only agreed to keep the said letter because Gruff was even more forgetful.

Buff came out of his pockets empty handed much to Gruff's anger.

"I propose, I suppose, that Gruff too check his pockets. I reckon that the letter may have accidentally strayed into his pockets."

Gruff who now seemed ready to pounce on his brother growled angrily. "you lost the letter?" gruff almost yelled at the poor Buff. Buff himself was now kneading his fingers, eyes glued to the ground.

"What is this?" Pascal asked, pointing at the slip of paper that was visible, slightly peeping from Gruff's pocket.

"What?" Gruff asked, putting his hands into his pockets and coming out with a brown letter, folded and sealed. It seemed somehow narrow for Gruff's pockets but dwarves are dwarves. Tricks are to them what water is to fish. Now it was Buff's turn to look annoyed and Gruff's turn to look nervous.

"what is it," Pascal asked, clearly curious about the letter. The inner gossip in Pascal was often a bone of contention between him and I. at times like this, the gossip always surfaced. I gave him a raised brow and he backed down, the desire for gossip still aflame but somehow controlled.

"We were working last week-" Gruff started by means of explanation.

"-because dwarves often work in the field-" buff continued.

"-and we found it-"

"-I swear we would never look into our father's things but-"

"-so we found this letter of the Queen's-"

"-written to her by the Prince of Hearts-"

I took the letter from Gruff's hand, manners thrown to the winds for an instant. Noticing the broken seal, I looked from dwarf to dwarf before they both absolved themselves of the deed. My eyes caught the still seething imp next to them, his fists folded in rage as he stood in the middle of the room. I gestured to the door to my right that led to the kitchen, releasing the two trouble making dwarves to their well-deserved feast. The dwarves could never be described as light eaters.

I turned to the chief priest who was very eager to give voice to his disdain.

"I must remind your Majesty that I will not be summoned like a dog." He said, very careful to keep his tone neutral.

"But apparently, dear chief priest, you can." Pascal sassed and I let it slide even though those were not my words. "you're here, aren't you?"

"I came here because I have knowledge of something that may interest you. A very influential person in Rames requires the audience of the Queen of Rames. Now, a few days ago, all the council was doused with truth serum. The serum itself is made of dust, which is very rampant in Razil. Word has it that the serum has no other source other than the lord of Razil. If that is so, then the war may as well find itself within the castles walls. With the current instability in Rames, I suppose such a situation may be uncomfortable if not resolved.

"Who else knows of the knowledge you have so generously imparted upon me?" I asked through Pascal.

"No one," he replied, "I propose that I be granted the position of the codex keeper immediately or else this piece of information finds itself in every ear that cares to hear it. I assure you that if I do not meet my demands- " I interrupted him once again through Pascal who added the necessary sass.

"Her majesty wants to know the definition of treason." The question by Pascal was directed to Jelena the prodigy who had walked in on the tail end of the conversation.

"it is the crime of doing something that could cause dander to the throne or the kingdom such as liaising with enemies of the kingdom. In simpler terms, it could be described as disloyalty to the throne." Jelena said in a 'somebody's about to be executed tone obviously aimed at the chief priest.

" And what punishment comes upon those found guilty of treason?" Pascal.

The chief priest gulped audibly.

"Death." Jelena replied, seeming to have remembered something. The smug expression on her face dropped.

"Jelena, what do You have to confess to your Queen?" I thought of Hassan, her lover. She must have seen him, I had given her the idea.

"nothing, your Majesty." Now she was shaking and it was the chief priests turn to look smug. I narrowed my eyes at her. "I might have gone to the border." The poor thing was trembling like a blade of grass up against the wind.

"And?" Pascal sassed.

"I might have met-"

"An enemy of Rames." Pascal interrupted with a fake attempt to deepen his voice. This was almost laughable. I was dangling two lives in my hand. I turned to the now smug- looking chief priest . peoples suffering always brought him so much joy. A sadist at his best.

"The chief priest himself thinks himself my senior and he therefore deems it fit to address me the way he likes. The kingdom of Rameluka has no tolerance for traitors.Guards, take the both of them to the castle dungeons. The punishment for treason is death. As Pascal delivered the sentence, I wondered if I was doing what was right.

"you're cruel," Jelena spat out as she was dragged away. The chief priest was taken away delivering promise after threat after promise but no one was listening. He who sows the wind reaps a storm.

I remained consoling myself 'what I am doing is justice.' Yet sometimes justice is not the same as what is right. As the last servant walked out of the room, I approved the audience with Ammetysa of Razil. I could not believe it hadn't even an hour after I had woken. A good day is known at dawn. But so is a bad one.