Minstrel

Chapter #23 ~ Queen Isabelle

"How many did we lose?" Queen Isabelle asked with a slight flicker of fear. Her spies had reported on the king's new wish. A beast every new moon to hunt and kill all the musicians in the land. It was terrible, but she couldn't help admire the king's wish. It had been practical and effective. A way to get around the genies' wishing rules about killing. A great wish indeed.

"Only two have been reported dead, but over twenty of our men were bitten." The knight, Sir Finch, reported gravely. "It wasn't as bad as last month, but at this rate there won't be any of us left at the end of the year."

The queen shook her head in irritation. The king was clever, she would give him that, but he had a fatal weakness. He was too passionate about music being completely wiped out and that passion could easily cloud his vision. If they could come up with a way to use that against him, to trap his army and destroy them... it wouldn't be hard to stop him.

Isabelle smiled as an idea began to form in her head. "Thank you for the report. We'll have to focus our efforts on making new defenses."

Sir Finch nodded. "I'll get a team together as soon as possible. I report when we come up with something."

Queen Isabelle tapped her fingers against her glass thrown. The hall was empty today and almost completely silent if it weren't for her tapping fingers. She needed a new strategy and she needed it fast.

She needed something that the king was passionate about, something that would break his patience. Something that he would give anything for.

"Zeek!" She called her slippery advisor forward from his spot by the doors.

"Yes, my queen?" He asked with shifty red eyes. The queen would strangle the man if she didn't need him.

"Have you heard from Connor, the boy we sent to retrieve the genie?"

Isabelle hated the idea of sending the boy into the castle when it was so dangerous, but she hadn't had a choice. She needed the genie. The girl was their only chance of success.

Zeek  shifted on his feet. Left, right. Left, right. He swayed like a man who had drunk one too many drinks. "I'm afraid the boy has yet to report, but our spies in the castle claim he has yet to be discovered."

Isabelle felt the need to breath a sigh of relief. She didn't like the idea of an innocent boy dying on her watch. He was younger than her own daughter, Rose, and he had so much life left to live.

"And what about Sir Core and the young man, Stans?" She hoped they were close. Things were dangerous enough in her own kingdom, but outside it was much worse.

Zeek shook his head, sending a wave of worry through the queen. "They must have been delayed. There was a great blizzard that hit the pine forest and lands near the mountains. They must have gotten caught in the storm, but I'm sure they're fine."

Zeek wasn't known to offer comfort and seeing this new side of him only made Isabelle trust him less. She had faith that Sir Core would safely bring in Stans, but she couldn't help but worry as it was in her nature to do so.

"Anything else that might help us?" She wasn't really expecting an answer. She struggled to push away the hopeless feeling that threatened to swallow her hole. How could they possible defeat the king and his genies? All they had was a ragtag army and small city that they called a kingdom. They hadn't had enough people before, but with the king's new wish their army was getting smaller and smaller. Soon there wouldn't be anything left.

"Well, there is this one thing that you might find interesting." Zeek smiled in a way that unsettled her, but the queen would take anything she could get.

"Yes." She tried not to sound too eager. "What is it?"

"Do you remember twelve years ago when Duke Dublin gave his son to the king as a birthday present?"

The Queen nodded. The poor unwanted son of Duke Dublin had been forced onto the king and disappeared for six years. People weren't sure what happened to the boy in the six years before he was trained as a knight. Rumors spread that he had been kept in the dungeon with all the kingdom's worst criminals, but all anyone really knew was that the king had never cared for the boy. No one really had. As a mother herself, the queen's heart went out to boy even if he had become a member of the enemy's army.

"Yeah, well." Zeek continued. "The boy, a young man of sixteen years now, has a bounty on his head, placed there by the king himself. He's offering five thousand golden crowns for the boy to be brought in alive."
Queen Isabelle could see where he was going with this. "If we could catch the boy, we could have one of our spies bring him in and collect the bounty. It's almost too convenient."

The rebel kingdom had been struggling for funds for as long as the queen could remember. Five thousand gold crowns was a lot of money and more than enough to pay for weapons and armor. The king would be funding his own defeat. It was amazing. Sure Queen Isabelle felt bad for the boy, but she had a kingdom to take care of and a rebellion to fund. In the end the boy's sacrifice would be for the greater good.

Zeek smiled. "Shall I send out a team to retrieve the boy?"

The queen knew they needed the funds, but with all the new beasts they just didn't have enough numbers. She shook her head. They had to strengthen their defenses before worrying about anything else.

"Not yet." She said. "Within a few weeks, when we can spare the knight, I'll personally set up team."

"As you wish, my queen." Zeek turned to leave. "If that's all you need from me..."

"Oh!" Queen Isabelle had almost forgotten. It was dangerous outside of the kingdom and without Stans retrieved she feared her daughter might run. She couldn't let that happen. "I need you to send Sir Thorn as Rose's personal guard. He mustn't let her out of his sight. Is that understood?"

Zeek bowed. "Yes, my queen. I'll see to it right away."

He was up and out of the room at a swift pace leaving the queen alone.
She couldn't take her mind off of the Dublin boy and the bounty on his head. What had the boy done to land himself in such trouble? What would the king do to him once he had him? All her thoughts were things that Isabelle couldn't let herself ponder. The boy was just a means to an end. He was just one of the many pawns to be used in their rebellious effort. It would be worth it. The queen had to believe that everything she did would be worth it in the end.