Two days after their disastrous incidents at the first inn, Adeleina, Rowan and Damien were still not on comfortable speaking terms. Adeleina was angry at Rowan for getting drunk and letting her do something so stupid and at Damien for-- well, Adeleina knew that he technically hadn't done anything wrong, but she was angry at him all the same. She was also angry at herself; how could she have let herself behave so loosely, when her kingdom was in danger? Damien was angry at both Adeleina and Rowan for a reason Adeleina could not fathom, and Rowan was, as always, stony and silent.
Here, the people were beginning to recognize Damien more and more often. In a kingdom as large as Dale, one could hardly expect the people on the outer edges near the borders to recognize their prince, especially when he was dressed in ragged hunterman's clothing. Now, however, Damien could barely ride two feet through a village or town without some fat merchant or passing lord trying to talk to him. Adeleina understood why he did not flaunt his status; really, she'd done the exact same thing in Corandell.
Nevertheless, travelling with the kingdom's prince gave both Adeleina (who was hardly ever recognized, to her relief) and Rowan (who often was on the recieving end of some terrified looks) some privileges they, without Damien, would not have been able to enjoy. On the third night of being on the road, the three found themselves in pleasant inn run by an affable, wealthy man whom Damien was on friendly terms with.
"The meals here are top-notch," Damien told Adeleina and Rowan monotonously as they were ushered in by the extremely excited innkeeper. "You two can dine together. I have matters to discuss with Trevin." With that, Damien swept away behind a door with the jolly old innkeeper without a backwards glance.
That left Adeleina and Rowan standing alone and extremely uncomfortable.
"Er," Adeleina said hesitantly when Rowan stayed silent. "I suppose we should sit down, then."
They meandered through the crowded room silently in search of empty seats. Adeleina was relieved to find that the people here looked quite ordinary and did not pay her nor Rowan any attention at all.
They found a table meant for one person tucked away in a corner. Rowan shrugged sullenly, and, to Adeleina's surprise, did not leave to sit somewhere else. Instead, he pulled an unused chair from another table and sat with Adeleina at the tiny corner.
Adeleina squirmed in her seat, ill at ease as they waited for a serving girl to bring food. She knew quite well by now that Rowan was neither talktative nor very friendly, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the silence that seemed as thick as fog around them.
"Why did you do it?" Rowan suddenly asked. He looked Adeleina in the eye for the first time in two days.
"Why did I do what?" Adeleina was thoroughly confused and rather surprised at Rowan's question.
"Kiss me," Rowan said curtly. He said it with such arrogance and outright bluntness that at first, Adeleina he meant it as a command.
"Wh-- oh," she said, hoping her embarassment didn't show through as unwanted images made their way into her mind. "I was drunk, of course."
"Is that it?" Rowan lifted a snarky eyebrow, almost as if he didn't care. Almost. Adeleina was, by now, good at reading people, however well-disguised they thought their emotions were. She caught the wolfish, hungry look that lurked behind Rowan's stony mask. It sent shivers rolling through her entire being-- whether they were shivers of fear, or something else, Adeleina didn't know.
"Of course that's it," Adeleina said reproachfully. "Why else would I? You should know by now that you're a despicable man and that no woman would ever kiss you willingly."
"You did."
"I was drunk."
"So?"
Adeleina glared at him.
"Why did you kiss me back?" she fired back at him. To her surprise, it came out louder than she'd intended, and the tables around her and Rowan's fell silent as heads turned to see the commotion. Adeleina flushed and ducked her head. Rowan glared at her, then glared at the watchers until they turned away.
He, however, was saved from a reply. A raunchy-looking wench had sashayed over. She slid a bowl of steaming stew and a plate of bread each to the Adeleina and Rowan. With a gap-toothed smile and a suggestive wink at Rowan, the wench left the table, her hips still swaying. Rowan watched her leave, his eyes on her behind.
"Stop that," Adeleina hissed, snatching her bowl of stew and bread.
"Why? It's a free kingdom."
"Sit somewhere else. I will not be seen in public with someone like you."
"You know, princess," Rowan snarled, his own voice positively dripping with contempt. "I would, but there's no space."
Adeleina could say nothing more to that. So she sat and ate silently, her eyes fixed on her stew and her entire being coiled as if to pounce. Or, perhaps to flee.
Dinner, suffice to say, was an uncomfortable affair. Adeleina said nothing more to Rowan, who did likewise. When Damien finally located them, Adeleina had been just about ready to explode with anxiety.
"What took you so long?" she said accusingly. Damien gave her an apologetic shrug.
"Sorry," he said shortly. "I have news--" Adeleina raised an eyebrow. "--But we have to go upstairs. This isn't for anyone's ears to hear."
Adeleina grudgingly followed him upstairs, her travelling sack in hand. Damien, it turned out, had managed to get three separate rooms this time, which both he and Rowan seemed very glad of.
"So?" Adeleina threw her sack on the floor and sat on her creaky bed. Rowan leaned against the wall, looking very moody, and Damien was pacing the floor. The floorboards squeaked with every step.
"Several messengers from Corandell have passed through this inn," Damien began. "Alecsander is holed up in the castle. From what I've gathered, no one else has been killed since the first night."
"Why?" Adeleina spat bitterly. "Why hasn't he killed them all? He's capable of it."
Damien gave her a level look. "What's a tyrant, if he has no subjects to rule?"
Adeleina glared at the floor. She had no answer.
"There's already talk of dissent amongst the Corandellish. Word has reached all corners of the kingdom that Seva had taken over the castle. Alecsander hasn't sent his men to all the fiefdoms yet, but it's only a matter of time."
"His men?" Adeleina broke in. "Aren't they all mercenaries?"
"No. That was my other point: Alecsander has sent word to his father, apparently. Seva troops are making their way to Castle Corandell as we speak."
Adeleina jumped up, her mind blazing with fury.
"What?" she shrieked. This time, she didn't really care who heard her. "Where did Seva get its own soldiers?"
"Seva is a big kingdom," Damien said hesitantly. "I imagine King Seva has offered the Honor's Coin . In a penniless kingdom like that, there's no doubt many men would jump at the chance for money."
"Honor's Coin?"
"It's when a king offers money to those who sign up to be soldiers."
"He didn't offer them the Coin," Rowan spoke up, his voice dark. "He offered them the Stygian."
"What?" Damien and Adeleina both turned to Rowan, surprised by his contribution and confused at the same time.
Rowan lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "The Stygian?"
"Er..." Adeleina looked at Damien, who looked back, equally confused. "What's the Stygian?"
Now, it was Rowan's turn to look confused. He held two fingers up and rubbed them together, as if showing them something crumbling to the floor. "The Stygian. You know, the disgusting rubbery black stuff Sevans put in their tea? It makes them go mad. Once you take your first sip, you can't stop. It's what makes King Seva so stinking rich while the rest of the people are piss-poor."
"Oh," Damien interjected. "You mean resin?" He looked at Adeleina, who gaped in surprise.
"He's drugging them?" she asked. "That's ourageous!"
"He's not drugging them," Rowan pointed out, as if he were explaining something extremely simple to a dull-witted child. "You can't drug someone when they're already drugged."
"They're hardly competent soldiers, then, if they're stark-raving mad," Damien said scornfully.
"They're brutal," Rowan said coldly. "They have no fears of anything. Besides that, they're desperate men. Desperate men aren't any better than wild animals."
A chilling silence fell over the room as Rowan finished.
"How did you know that?" Damien suddenly asked sharply, turning to Rowan. "How did you know about the resin?"
Rowan gave Damien a demeaning look. "I've been to many places, fool. Seva is hardly the worse kingdom there is."
"What are we going to do, then?" Adeleina asked, her mind still on the bleak situation in Corandell. Her throat was clenching with panic. "How could it even be possible to defeat an army of a thousand mercenaries and a thousand more Sevan brutes?"
Damien's jaw was tight, and when he spoke, it was through gritted teeth. "This isn't a one-sided war, Adeleina. It's not like Dale has no means of attacking...or defending."
"Oh, I'm sorry for forgetting about your coffers of heaping gold," Adeleina said bitingly. At the instant hurt and shocked look on Damien's face, however, Adeleina immediately felt bad. A moment of silence prevailed.
"I'm sorry," she offered softly. "I didn't mean-- I just-- I'm... worried," she finished stupidly. Rowan snorted.
"We're all worried," Damien said testily. He didn't meet Adeleina's gaze, and she felt the knife of guilt twist.
Rowan looked ready to object, but he prudently closed his mouth.
"Sorry," Adeleina said again meekly. She was a terrible person.
"It's alright." Damien gave a feeble brush of the hand, and Adeleina knew that it wasn't alright at all. "I'm going to go to bed."
He left the room without a backward glance. Rowan followed him out silently, after giving Adeleina an exasperated shake of the head. You're an idiot, he mouthed, before strutting out the door himself.
Adeleina collasped onto her own bed, her chest hurting and her mind swirling with thoughts of her father, the Stygian, and her two travelling companions.
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A word on mercenaries:
Hired help wasn't actually all that uncommon. Most kingdoms didn't have the resources to constantly maintain a good army. Sure, there were knights, and all lords swore fealty and did their best to try and provide a fighting force, but it wasn't enough. Most of the time, a kingdom's army was a temporary one, where the king pays a thousand or so mercenaries to win the war for him. Of course, this lead to rather unreliable armies, and treachery was too easy to come upon...