Accusations

Looking down at the fallen Empress and his state of undress, Zan blanched a color that would make a ghost jealous. He quickly adjusted his trousers and tunic. "Emperor Devrim, I did not think you would meet us here. It-It's not what it looks like!"

The Emperor eyed the other man critically. "Really? Because it looks like a creature snaked its way up to your delicate parts, and you dropped Her Majesty and your drawers to remedy the situation…"

Zan's jaw dropped. "Then it's exactly what it looks like."

Devrim picked up his wife from the ground and held her in his arms. She smiled so wide at his care that her eyes almost disappeared. "Don't be too hard on the Guardian. You would have dropped me too, I think. Anyway, I am not hurt any more than I already was."

Her long eyelashes fluttered in the uncertain light of the torch which lay unclaimed on the ground. The image was too much for him to resist. Devrim kissed the woman deeply and then gave one last scowl to Zan. "Don't let it happen again."

The silver-eyed man bowed humbly. "If I ever find myself in a situation where something is threatening to eat me, I will make sure never to drop Her Majesty again. I promise." Had the promise been from a lesser man, Devrim would have accused him of sarcasm. However the Guardian's apology seemed sincere.

"Dada!" Colvyr and Nurlan made their way out of the water, the general's boots sloshing water onto the dry stone.

"Good to see you, son." Devrim beamed. "Was that a fun trip across the water?"

The young prince laughed enthusiastically and reached out for his father.

"I had no idea there was such diverse wildlife living below Valiant," the doctor commented as he brushed away flapping fish that had attached himself to the bottom of his medical bag. He splashed out of the pool with a small surge of water that washed over Zan's boots.

The Guardian shook off his shoes a second time. "Just wait until we walk under the river. One time when I did that, a scorpion fell from above and slid down my collar."

"What did you do?" the doctor asked in horror.

"Isn't it obvious? He stripped off his tunic and set it free!" The Emperor responded bitterly.

"Devrim!" Aurora gasped. The others averted their gaze. Although the actual action was backlit due to the dropped fire stick, they had both heard every blessed word of the earlier exchange.

Zan's eyes flashed in the darkness. "If you must know," he answered calmly. "Gandr saw the thing occur and smashed it against my back. I felt his hand almost as soon as I felt those spindly scorpion's legs, and I thought for a second that Gandr was going to try to push me down and take me out. It nearly led to the breakdown of our alliance before it really began."

There was a silence in the tunnel for a moment as the words sunk in. Only the slight splash of something rippling the water made any noise at all. Without Zan trusting Gandr a decade ago, the balcony would have collapsed with Aurora and Devrim still on it.

The halfling had held it up just long enough for the two royals to escape. It seemed that even the smallest thing could have a very large impact.

"We need to keep moving," the Emperor said. "Or else we may be too late." Devrim shifted his wife's weight in his arms and moved along the passageway. Though not nearly as strong as the burly Nurlan nor the slightly inhuman Zan, the Emperor would trust no one else with the Empress after he saw her be dropped.

And there was no way he was going to let her walk. His last few moments before they parted would be spent with her in his arms. He unconsciously let out a sigh.

"I saw the twins," the Empress whispered in her husband's ear. "As Métis suspected, they were at the University when Fannur died. They say that lizards killed him."

Devrim's mind flooded with questions. Yet, Aurora was not finished.

"That is all I know about the attack. They, along with Renat and Eira, have headed north to find the scientist Dania, so they should be out of harm's way for now. I told them to send you a full report."

Their conversation ended as they reached the fork in the tunnel where the other exit was located. A second set of traps was set down on the stretch leading up inside the city that only the royals, and possibly Zan, knew how to disarm. Fortunately none of them had been sprung.

However, this strange gauntlet is not what caught the physician's attention. He had been noticing shimmers ahead, but whenever he tried to focus on them, they seemed to disappear.

Just as he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, they came into a wider part of the tunnel. Zan put out the small torch which he had retrieved from the side of the pool.

There was a moment of darkness and panic before the doctor realized that it was not truly dark. The stone around him sparkled and glowed softly with a light that reminded him vaguely of the Fates' ethereal magic. He guessed that at some point they must have formed this part of the tunnel, though why they would do so was still a mystery.

Bathed in this new light, the group moved onward into a much smoother passageway than the roughly hewn stone and dirt. It was much easier to walk knowing that they were unlikely to roll an ankle on a misplaced stone.

The party moved along quietly until the soft drip of water pinging on the rocks of the tunnel began to pierce their senses. At this point, the doctor was done guessing about where they were going. He simply lifted one of his bags over his head like a makeshift umbrella to block both the earthy rain and any critters which might also fall.

With a couple of wide turns, the group finally reached the threshold of the palace. In the low light, the physician saw the answer to the biggest question he had.

"Took you long enough!" Nanny grumbled, barely opening her eyes as she laid on a pallet on the ground. "I am glad the palace does not have rats, or I would have been eaten a hundred times over. I have been here for days!"

"Not days, Nanny," Devrim sighed, "but many hours. We are sorry for our delay."

The doctor had released Nanny to the care of Devrim early that morning. When he tried to learn where the Councilwoman was later on, no one would answer him. Now he knew why. He likely wouldn't have believed them anyway.

"Delay, my foot! You should be sorry for how you got me down here. You are the worst at sneaking of anyone I have ever seen." Having had no one to talk to for quite some time, Nanny laid her full force against the Emperor.

Devrim found the wheeled chair, which he had brought down in a second trip after assisting the old woman, and set Aurora gently into the seat.

"I was not the only person involved in that transfer. Junayd helped get you here before he left too, you know." The grey-eyed man defended himself, happy to throw his absent advisor into the line of fire.

But Nanny shook her head as she huffed. "I don't hold that soldier responsible. You have more brains than that shameless flirt. Besides, he wasn't the one who stuck the vase on my face!"

All eyes drifted to the Emperor, who quickly looked at the ground, unable to refute her claim. "I did not want to put it on your stomach and hurt your injuries," he claimed in a small voice.

"So you hurt my face instead? Honestly, Your Majesty!" Nanny was unable to sit up from her cot, yet she was somehow still looking down on the Emperor. Devrim would have been impressed had he not felt so small under everyone's curious glances.

"What exactly happened?" Aurora voiced what everyone was thinking.

Devrim squirmed. "Let's get moving and I will tell you along the way."

Colvyr was placed in Aurora's lap so that Nurlan and Zan could carry Nanny's cot while Devrim pushed his family. The group moved into the hidden passages within the palace.

The doctor was astonished by all the one way windows that they passed with increasing frequency. He was so engrossed in the scenes that the man barely caught the beginning of the Emperor's tale.

Devrim cleared his throat, "So…trying to get Nanny down here became quite an ordeal. You see, Junayd thought it would arouse suspicion if we just took Nanny straight to my room or yours, so while you were making final preparations before heading out to the carriage, he devised a plan."

"What kind of plan?" Aurora knew the mischief Junayd could cause.

"Well, we borrowed a rolling table from the kitchen and dressed up as servants…."

"No one recognized you?" Zan asked incredulously.

"All questions will be answered at the end of the story," Devrim snipped, "but I wore a cleaner's bandanas around my face and kept my head down…We got Nanny and her cot on the long cart…"

"Don't forget covering me in a sheet," Nanny cried indignantly.

"Oh yeah, we did that. Junayd told everyone we were bringing a feast to my suite for when the Empress returned from her parade. He was so enthusiastic about the ruse, that one well meaning servant brought a bouquet of flowers to add to the display…" Devrim paused.

Aurora pressed her hand to her temple. "Let me guess. Junayd passed the problem off to you."

"And he put the vase right on my forehead!" Nanny grumbled.

"There was nowhere else! I removed it as quick as I could." Devrim's voice cracked.

"Sounds like you need a new advisor," Zan smirked.

"I've been saying that for years!" Nurlan agreed. "Can I be the one to tell him when he returns?"

"Hush, you two," Aurora scolded her subordinates. "We're here."