A Whisper of Night

4.3 || ASTNORDEN 💫

The next few minutes were a blur.

A team of guards swarmed around Elsking and Vanstur, ushering them away. Astna's fingers tightened around the back of the chair as Elsking cast her one last look – whether it was of fury or desperation, she could not tell.

She considered sitting down, just to steady herself, but a piece of purple eggshell had fallen onto the seat. The rest of the shell loomed above her like a violet maw, the inside glistening a dewy white.

The members of Parliament flooded through the entrance, their voices rising in a panicked cacophony. A few of them leaned over the first row of chairs, gawking open-mouthed at the hydra, yet none of them dared approach it.

A team of servants hovered around Hoger's body, hesitantly nudging the corpse away from the hydra as it shrieked and snapped its jaws. Another servant knelt to scrub away the blood, but yelped and scampered off as the hydra screeched at him. 

A few of Astna's men approached her, but she could do nothing but shake her head. There was a dull ringing in her ears. She felt stunned, numbed; the world was muted.

As for the hydra...it had curled up by the dais, three heads snapping at one another, scales glinting wickedly. Astna didn't dare approach it, still too shaken by the speed at which it'd killed Hoger.

Astna's handmaids had reappeared. A few of them screamed at the sight of the hydra, although Jala maintained a stoic expression. Gingerly, Astna brushed the fragment of shell off the chair and took a seat.

Finally, when everybody had settled, Minister Foerling cleared her throat.

"My...my Lady," she said. Her pale eyes flickered over the pool of blood at the dais, over the hydra. "Might we have a reason for this gathering?"

There was no point in cushioning the news. "It saddens me to say," Astna said, "that my brother tried to murder me just a few minutes ago." The words sounded strange – almost absurd – coming from her mouth. "Had it not been for the hatching of the hydra, I'd be dead right now."

"That's impossible!" shouted Minister Handel, rising from his chair. He wore a flowing robe of turquoise and a hat of bright blue feathers, no doubt for Astna's birthday party. "Our rightful heir and beloved lord would never do such a - "

"Sit down," snapped Minister Foerling, "and stop strutting like a peacock - all the feathers in the world won't make you one." She turned to Astna as Minister Handel plunked down, his face a bright red. "My Lady, do you have evidence of this?"

"None but my word," she said, suddenly realizing how weak her testimony sounded. 

By the time she'd finished describing her encounter, there were more than a few suspicious mutterings in the Hall. Astna finally saw her brother, seated right at the back of the chamber.

And in the corner sat three men, their simple garb conspicuously out of place amidst the Parliament: Jala's witneses, no doubt.

Minister Foerling nodded as she concluded her story. "Very well," she said, although Astna could see the doubt in her face. That wasn't a good sign - if Foerling didn't believe her, who would? "My lord Elsking..." she turned around. "Do you have anything to say to this?"

Astna's hands curled into fists.

But, to her surprise, her brother just shook his head.

"No," he said, his voice barely audible. "No...I...it happened exactly as she said." He lifted his head, his throat moving as he swallowed. "I...I...I tried to kill her...." He lowered his gaze to his hands.