Duty Calls

[Ycharley]

Minala looked at Audric with a shake of her head. "When in hell have you ever listened to doctor's orders?" she asked shaking her head. If he left before the doctor came she would be changed and in the middle of the action.

"So what do you mean by "light duty"," She asked moving her fingers in quotation marks. She definitely wasn't going to be on bed rest. Bed rest was for dying men and pregnant women and she wasn't either of those.

"I think a good guard duty would be good for me, would give you a chance to catch me up and get me out of this room," Minala suggested, hoping he would say yes.

[Ivory]

"I listen.  I just usually don't do what they say," he answered with a smile.  Doctors...  A necessary evil.

"Light duty, for those of us fortunate enough to be enlisted in the private guard, is guard duty," Audric answered, confirming that, indeed, guard duty would be alright.  "Half-shift only, and then you rest."  Okay, so guard duty was pretty much all they did.  That was besides the point!  "You're obviously not scheduled in rotation.  And until you're back up to full strength, you'll have your own private guard -- no arguments.  My sergeant's in charge of that detail, so if you want anything changed, you'll need to talk to him."  He snorted softly, adding, "But don't hold your breath."  Curio was a tough cookie.  Then again, he was looking after her like a father would his daughter.  It sounded messy just thinking about it...

Fortunately, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.  A moment later, a maid had arrived with a bowl of stew and some hot tea for the patient.  Audric waved her out, then tore a corner off of the bread.  He dipped it into the stew and chased the bite down with a gulp of tea.  He nodded slightly to himself, satisfied, then gestured for her to sit.  "You should eat.  Your strength will return faster if you do."

[Ycharley]

"I'm not technically under your order, so if I feel like I'm okay to work a full shift I will," Minala stated. She didn't like to feel like someone was controlling her. He wasn't her officer. She had been working with them to make things easier but she didn't have too.

"If you work with me, I'll work with you, and that will be the best thing. I thank you for taking care of me like you have, and I don't want to sound ungrateful. I just can't afford to take so much time off. If something happens to the Duke its on my head," She said as she paced slightly, getting the blood pumping through her body.

Minala sat down to eat but gave Audric a look. She didn't appreciate being treated like a five year old who had just gotten over a cold. She was a soldier. A strong seasoned soldier who had been posted on the border for several years. She demanded respect.

[Ivory]

OOC: Some language!  Apparently someone pushed a button!  ;_;  This is suddenly not going well.

Audric shrugged slightly.  "You're right.  You aren't in my chain of command.  You can do as you like."  And she probably would, even if he had tried to throw his weight around.  He kind of got that impression from her.

Ignoring her look pointedly, he folded his arms across his broad chest and frowned down at her, his expression suddenly chilly enough to freeze, no doubt, a subordinate in place.  "If you were, you'd have been interrogated, imprisoned, and executed for incompetency rather than enjoying a soft bed in the palace with maids to see to your every need and a staff of guards to protect you.  I'm not unsympathetic to your condition, and I am grateful for your warning.  And I will continue to work with you to ferret out this conspiracy, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again -- one that could result in Calent's death -- I will make it my goal to kill every single person I feel is responsible.  This is a job to you.  This is personal to me, and I will not tolerate any more fuck-ups from you, from my men, or from anyone else.  Enjoy your dinner, Princess.  I have work to do."

[Ycharley]

Minala didn't say anything in retaliation though she had plenty to say. She had learned there were times for words and time for silence. She tried hard not to take his words personally, but it was growing harder and harder not too. The more she thought about it the more she wish she would have said something.

Minala shrugged, finally dismissing the thoughts, at least for now. She got up and quickly got dressed. This wasn't just a job for her. If something happened to Calent it was her head. So he had been wrong, this was very personal. It's the only reason why she would pull a stunt like she had.

She quickly got her clothes on and walked to Calent's door. He was her top priority and she was done trusting other people to protect her neck. She quickly decided before she got there that if Audric was there she wouldn't speak to him. She didn't like people who assumed they knew the whole story and then pushed there weight around and used hurtful words to try to gain power over others. She wasn't soft, and it wasn't going to work.   

[visualspice]

OOC: In enters more awkward moments XD~

IC:
It was a restless night for all of them- but everynight for him came the nightmares- claiming his dreams.
This night was no different, and he awoke with a start. Sweat chilled across his brow as he sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead then stared down at the bedding he had tossed off during his fitful dreams. Staring down at his hands, he could still see the images there-
of blood.. of black.. of magic..
of death.

Shivering, he began to unbutton his sleeping shirt, and it hung open, exposing his chest as he raked a hand through his unruly dark hair. He needed wine, or something, his head was pounding as he made for his door to call for his servant.  He was in the middle of rubbing at his eyes when he stepped out, and into Minala.
He jerked away with a start, and found himself staring at her with a merciless gaze. He had not expected her to be patrolling outside his door at this ungodly hour... and internally all he could do was curse Audric for not informing him.


"Are you to be here?" he demanded, no civility, only demands on his tongue. He brushed his hands away from his face, settling them at his sides as he gave her a once over. "I received no words as an update from me men." he added coldly.



OOC: Calent seems to be Mr Grumpy pants ins just about all of his threads but one lol

[Ycharley]

Minala took a step back and gave the Duke a quick but respectful bow. "My apologies Sir," she started. She offered him a small pleasant smile, trying to some how calm his ever so grumpy mood. Plus, she had to keep her cool with the duke. She couldn't risk angering him with quick words.

"I'm not under the authority of your guard, and before I let your chief guard know he stormed out. I am the one who will be punished if something were to happen to you my lord so I simply can not risk it," she started, she spoke quickly but calmly. Her voice held a lulling, soothing sense about it.

"Plus your doctor drugged me up to the point where I slept for two days, I couldn't sleep know if I wished," she offered as an extra excuse of why she was up at such an hour. She took a deep breath, by what she had seen from this man so far she almost expected a verbal lashing of some sort, so she prepared herself silently for it.

[visualspice]

Calent only stared at her. Audric would do something like that to him.
Sighing, he rubbed irritably at his temple. "I do not care for excuses, I care for rules being kept. Without rules, no matter how small, there would be nothing but chaos."
And unfortunately for him, if the Grand Duke commanded her to be here, he would have to just deal with the situation.

He'd lalso deal with Audric later. His head was still pounding.

"So," he stared at her, keeping back a sigh as he drew in a long breath. "I suppose if you are still here, the threat has yet to be quelled. Very well. I expect more guards should be in order and I expect Audric has already taken care of it."

Or he had better.
And without so much as another word, the Duke stormed down the hall towards his study.
He had many studies, the grander of the two not being attached to his private room, and it was here he kept the extra drugs that helped him to sleep. If he was going to survive this knight with some woman prowling around outside his chambers, and a band of petty mages on the run, he should at least give the medicine another try....

Though the idea of slipping back into those dreams was painful.
He procured the vial and frowned. It was his last one. He had better make it count, and also inform the doctor he would need more. Tipping his head back, he downed it and made a bitter face before he swallowed. He carelessly set the empty vial aside- a servant could handle the waste, and stalked across the room in brooding silence as he began to finger his way through the tall shelves of books.

He might as well find a good book to read while he attempted to lull himself back to sleep on drugs.

[Ycharley]

Minala raised her eyebrows as he turned. She had expected worse, and she quickly just figured Audric was going to get the brunt of any anger that the Duke had. In a way the thought pleased her. In a round about way she was exacting a form of revenge. The sweet victory of it didn't last long as she sighed, moving to stand on the outside of the new door.

She wondered what had happened to the Duke. She had met bitter war torn soldiers who seemed happier then him. She shrugged at her thought, figuring the old saying the money couldn't buy you happiness was true.

Time seemed to drag on and the memories of the dream only made it pass that much slower. What was the meaning of it, was it some sort of vision of the future. She looked down and shook her head. She despritely hoped it wasn't. Her life was on stake with this mission in more the one way, and she could see a lot of sleepless nights in the future.

[visualspice]

Calent hadn't realized the effects of the drugs would work.. well, as expected, perhaps even better. He normally didn't take the whole vial, and as he had made himself comfortable, procuring a book to read, and found himself drifting off into a quiet slumber against a leather chair.

Though at first, the dreams had become numb- almost not there...
it was well into the second hour his body began to twitch, his brain drifting towards the unknown memories, the recollections.. and the blood...

The death screams of his father came in a haunting scream from the dark..
then he saw his hands-
his own, bloodied hands as he cried out, but no voice would be heard.
Angered, the bloodied hand smacked against the wall, striking at it as it left a vicous trail of blood smeared across it....

He fell over his form, unable to cry nor to scream, as blackness welled within him, blackness consuming his eyes..
blackness maddening his heart...


Calent awoke with a start, his knee hitting the table near him and knocking over the tea he had procured, the cups clattered towards the floor. Calent clutched a hand to his heart, the pain there, gripping at him as he keeled over, panting as he tried to catch his breath and sweeping a hand through his the sweat of his forehead, than through his hair.

sighing, he began to calm himself, his breaths becoming more and more controlled as he let his hair fall through his fingers, lips sagging to a frown as he stared at the mess of tea and porcelain upon the ground.

[Ycharley]

Minala had gotten pretty comfortable against the wall of the study. It was basically silent and she liked that. Soon though She started to hear ever familiar noises. Her acute ears easily picking up the sounds of a sleeping man have a nightmare. She had heard it a million times, her stay in the barracks on the border had taught her the signs, the sounds. Many of the soldiers had them, herself included. Once you had seen the gore and horrifying sights of battle, you were changed, different. She was no exception. She had a much different view of the world now than she did when she was younger. When she was younger it was easier to find hope in humanity, hope in general. She had been war toughened though, her skin a lot thicker and her mind much darker.

The sound of the porcelain hitting the floor jarred her away from any thoughts that had been floating in her head. she jumped to her feet and was at the door in a matte of quickened heart beats.

"Duke, is everything well?" She asked. It was clear in the slight hoarseness of her voice that she was ready for battle if the situation would call for it. Her adrinaline had already started to course through her views.

She was tempted to open the door. She almost felt the need to, as if she must but she knew better. The Duke was a man who liked his privacy and her sitting outside was invading it enough. If she was to barge she felt she would get a verbal lashing if not a full out whip lashing.

[visualspice]

Calent's temper flared the moment he heard a voice on the other side, a woman.  But slowly, his heart began to ease as he sat up, staring cooly at the door.

"I just knocked over my tea," he told her through the door. Slowly rising, he smoothed back his hair, smoothed down his clothing and made his way over towards the door. Opening it, he simply nodded towards her. "I'm going to bed for the night." And as he stepped out from the study, he caught a servant and ordered, "There's a mess of tea in the study. See that it's cleaned." The servant bowed and was off, and the duke, sighing, made long, heavy strides to his room, not caring to see if the mordecai woman had followed him or not before slipping away, silently, back into his room.

[Ycharley]

She didn't follow him right away, she was too busy biting her tongue hard. She was tempted down to a core level to ask him what his problem was. She also knew that that wasn't the thing to do. She knew he would take offense to it and she would suffer for it later. She considered staying there, to continue to watch at his door but figured there would be better ways to do things. First off she needed to learn the new shifts which meant she had to go talk to Audric's sergeant.

It took Minala a time to hunt him down but slowly she made her way to him. She hoped that he would be easier to work with than Audric. She didn't know what Audric's problem was, she didn't know why he went off earlier. She knew eventually she would have to talk to him again, but she didn't want to. She knew it was childish but she was known for holding grudges.

[Ivory]

OOC: Moving this ahead to dawn, else she won't be able to find Curio!

Dawn crept into the sleeping palace, rousing servants to begin preparing the palace for the day and guards to begin their daily routines.  The palace was suddenly simply awake and bustling with all manner of chores that had to be done before the Duke awakened.

As always, Curio was in the courtyard with the first rays of the sun's lights.  Having supervised the shift change and heard the report from the night sergeant, he turned his attention to his usual duties -- supervising the unruly troops as they stumbled into the mess for breakfast.

He bawled out a few men -- but not many -- and although they grumbled, it was the good-natured grumbling of men expecting to be chided.  He turned, surprised, to find Minala, and he offered her a wry grin.  "Good to see you're up and about again."

[Ycharley]

Minala offered a small smile back as she cleared most of the distance between them. "I think it is sooner than Audric would like," She began with a slight shrug. "Yet he complains about how he decided to keep me guarded when I sleep," She said shaking her head with a sigh.

She looked back up at Curio "So I need to know as much as I can so I can protect Calent, for as much as Audric thinks that this is just a job, it's not," She added placing a hand on her hip.

It was drawing closer and closer to the night that the castle was supposed to be raided and it was starting to worry her.

[Ivory]

Curio chuckled out loud.  "The Captain gets grouchy when he's worried.  And even grouchier when he's on the watchman's rotation.  I suppose he and the Duke will start bickering like an old married couple soon..."  He shook his head, obviously more amused than anything else.  He'd seen it happen before, and it always ended well enough.  Both men had thick hides, after all.

"As to why he had you under guard, that should be obvious, shouldn't it?  I spent a good deal of time at your bedside myself, young lady.  Angsar knows the Captain was out of his depth with you."  He was grumbling, albeit good-naturedly.  "That man has done the women of Connlaoth a favor by remaining a bachelor.   And the doctor was nearly as bad!"

"So, what do you need to know?"  He rubbed his chin with an idle hand, looking thoughtfully in her direction.  "Or you could ask the Captain.  He should be up in a few hours."

[Ycharley]

Minala laughed out loud, and it felt good, she had needed a good laugh. "And Audric spoke of you like you were a brooding old man," She added at the end, running her fingers through her hair to pull it out of her face.

She took a deep breath, "Actually he wants me to remain under continuous guard until he thinks I am fully recovered," She said shaking her head. "He told me I needed to talk to you to get put into the guard rotation, and honestly I much rather talk to someone who does act like a pregnant woman.

"Plus, I think I made it on his bad side last night after the little conversation we had once I woke up anyway," Minala said with a slight chuckle, remembering the conversation. "But I need to know any changes made to guard post, the schedule and how the guard rotation works.'

[Ivory]

Both of Curio's shaggy eyebrows lifted high onto his forehead.  "Never heard the Captain called that before..."

He dismissed it with a slight shrug.  "I did tell you that he's grouchy.  The men accept it.  He leaves them alone unless they give him a reason not to -- and, knowing how he is, nobody dares step out of line.  Plus he gets this way every time anybody is in danger -- his men included.  He'll learn to settle down eventually and take the hits as they come."  Or, well, maybe he wouldn't.  Who knew?

"As to your guard, he wants to make sure no one tries to kill you.  We've been checking the food -- yours and the Duke's -- for poison each mealtime, though yours was mostly just water or broth, as you were sleeping.  Between the two of us, we made up a list.  Only the men we trust unquestioningly are on that detail, and there are never fewer than three.  I know they're a hindrance, but at least try to put up with them for a few days."

He made a broad, sweeping gesture to the rest of the yard.  "The rest of the guards are being held at battle-ready.  It means they're armed, and even while they're off-duty, they're expected to know where the nearest battle station is and who to report to.  And because the Captain wanted his best men assigned to guard you, he's been on watchman's rotation, partly to watch over you, partly to watch over the Duke, and partly to watch over the men."

[Ycharley]

Minala frowned half tempted to go give Audric a piece of her mind. He called her a little princess yet he wouldn't let her act like a soldier, and that is what she was. She took a deep breath, "Your captain is really starting to strike my nerve." She started.

"I would appreciate it if you called off the men, I'm a soldier, not a princess. If you feel I am too unsafe with no guard at all at least only assign me one, I don't need three," She continued to speak shaking her head.

"I can handle my own, I got kidnapped, withstood torture and got my way out. I'm resourceful and strong, I'm a bit tougher than a butterfly's wing," she said looking over the battle ready men. It was starting to sink in that in a few days there would be a battle.

"As I said, I think that he is mad at me, as I reminded him that I am not one of his men. If anything happens to the Duke it falls soully on my shoulders and I am the one that will have to face the punishment, which is a hefty one. It would be nice if he would have a bit of respect," she said shaking her head with a sigh.

"Have any off duty men that are half good at sparing?" she finally asked after a pause.

[Ivory]

"I think you may have things turned around a bit," Curio said slowly with a deep frown.  "It's got less to do with you and more to do with that leak you found.  If one of your guards turned out to be a traitor, he could kill the second guard pretty easily if he had a mind to do it.  But if there are two guards, it makes his job more difficult.  And now with you on your feet, that traitor doesn't stand much of a chance at all.  Or, if a maid turned out to be the traitor, it leaves two men to guard and one to run to either myself or the Captain.  Or, if you like, yourself to guard, a man to watch your back, and two to run for help.  It's more efficient to have three any way you look at it."

"As for the Captain, the Duke is like a brother to him.  They were boys together.  Not really professional at all, but that's the reason he's here looking out for him.  He'd storm into Heaven and face Angsar Himself if it meant protecting Duke Calent's life."