Time for the convicted had been passing by
for centuries. He was sitting in a damp cell and had been watching water drops running down a gray brick wall. How long has he been sitting here? A week? Or two? And how much time did he still have before the execution? Earl Arnaud knew neither one nor the other, but he wanted someone finally leads him away from here so this torture with loneliness and conscience would finally end. He was really guilty. It was he who murdered the prince and let the rest burn with a sunset flame.
A few hours, or days, later he heard heavy steps in the corridor and the door to his solitary cell opened with a creak letting two guards along with the captain of the royal guard in.
“Earl Arnaud, come with us”
He certainly didn't want to go to these pompous nobles and let their feet wiped on his honor, but who said that he had a choice? So the Earl, tinkling with shackles, left his little cell after the captain to stand trial.
Oh, what a piercing blue sky and the warm sun, it was so nice to feel touch of sun rays on his face again. After spending month in dungeon, the world seemed to Arnaud much more colorful than before.
"Earl Ralph Gerard Arnaud, you are charged with the murder of His Highness the First Prince Edward, Her Majesty the Queen Gertrude and the arson of the royal palace with the aim of concealing the bodies and evidences. You are sentenced to death by decapitation."
He did not have a chance to justify himself, as well as the desire to deny anything. Arnaud didn't understand why he was called here, but still the title also gave his advantages - he wouldn't be torn to pieces by the townspeople whose houses caught fire after the palace. After what happened, he didn’t really want to live.
It was a warm summer day, the sun recently crossed the noon. Birds were circling in the serene blue sky. At first, Ralph thought it was pigeons, but looking better he realized that a flock of black ravens were circling over the palace. Crows over the castle weren't a good sign. Old people said that where they appear, one needs to wait for grief. But neither the warm sun and small fluffy clouds, nor the capital living its usual life didn't foreshadow any troubles.
“What a wonderful day today, isn't it, Your Grace?” - Prince Edward suddenly appeared from behind of Earl's back. "What a pity that you and I should be hanging out in a noisy city while everyone is having fun on the royal hunt. And my mother got sick in addition to the rest of the troubles"
"The day is good if only the crows don't portend trouble" - Ralph answered him, to which His Highness burst into laughter.
“Oh, so you believe in signs, Earl Arnaud?” - He didn't stop laughing, and it seemed to Ralph that his laughter was more like crazy than cheerful. - “Well, if it makes it easier for you, I will spare you from these creatures.”
The Earl didn't expect the prince to really take a bow and start shooting innocent birds. But he was shooting until there were no ravens in the sky above the castle.
“I hope that Your Grace's bad mood has flown away like these birds” - The prince said with a grin ending his game. It was at least strange. Earl Arno have been recently appointed to the post of general, and he hadn't been closely acquainted with the prince before, so now His Highness seemed a little crazy. He could ask the Queen why her son sometimes behaved strangely, at the same time and there would be an occasion to visit Her Majesty. Those who are ill are always so alone.
He came to Her Majesty in the evening as befits etiquette. But something was wrong. Several maids crowded in the waiting room. When Arnaud entered the room, they looked at each other as if not knowing whether to let him in to the Queen or to drive him away. And then he heard shouting from behind a thin gold-studded mahogany door. Ralph had never thought about how the royal families live, but obviously quarrels between son and mother were common, because no one was going to separate them. Having trodden a little more in the waiting room, the Earl decided that after such a quarrel Her Majesty would definitely become worse, so calling a doctor is better than just standing outside the door and listening.
When the count returned with the doctor, there was no soul in the waiting room. The Prince's voice was still heard from behind the door, and the Earl decided it was time for him to step in. The picture he saw opened the door terrified him and left no doubt that the prince was insane.
He was sitting on the bed with a bloodied dagger in his hand and shouting “Answer! Don’t you dare to ignore me! ” shaking the Queen’s lifeless body over her shoulders, and on her satin shirt a scarlet bloody stain was spreading. Having noticed the Earl frozen in horror, the Prince with a crazy look rushed at him with a sword screaming:
“It's all you! You have murdered my mother!”
By inertia The Earl drew his sword.
“How dare you raise your hand against your King!”
Lunge. Another one. The Earl easily reflected the indiscriminate hits of his the distraught lord.
"It's all you, you are to blame!"
Hit. Another hit. One of them turned over the table, a massive candelabra fell to the floor and set fire to the curtain, but they were not up to it.
“It was you who let them into the city! A traitor! A coward!"
At one moment Arno became tired of listening to this. The prince was totally mad, it was enough to look into his furious eyes to understand this. And it was time to end with all that. Having knocked the sword out of the prince with one hit, with the second he forever ended the life of a crazy prince. The battle was over, but the room was on fire and Ralph had no choice but to jump out of the window so as not to be burned alive.
* * *
A quiet rustle of a key in the lock tore him from his memories. The outside was already completely dark. Who could it be? His guards don’t used to act quietly. The door quietly opened and a fragile low figure in a black cloak leaked into the gap. Hired killer? Well, it would be a mercy. But his strange guest took off his hood and it turned out that it was a girl. He recognized her right away - the lovely Marianne de Gui, the bride of the prince. No, the girl whose groom he’d murdered.
“Do you want to avenge the prince? Come on girl, I would only be glad if this was all over. ”
“You think I've come to kill you? On the contrary. I am grateful to you. All these goats should also, but only me and his mother knew about Edward’s disease. Strange, but with men he didn't behave so wildly and crazy. And I'm afraid to imagine what he would do to me after the wedding. These fools don't understand which king you saved them from. And I just can’t understand why it was necessary to burn everything? ”
"Like it was me. When I arrived, the queen was already dead. Mad prince with a bloodied dagger rushed at me and accidentally turned over table with candles "
“But why didn’t you even try to justify yourself?”
“Because I'm guilty. Even if he'd been triply insane, I couldn't have killed him. I could have locked him, wait until he calmed down, made him confess .. "
“What had been done is done, Your Grace. Now we need to run away from here ”
He gave a bitter laugh.
“My lady, but why do you need this? Escaping with a murderer? ”
“I'm not a girl anymore. Princes are not being denied. They're not being complained about. And I just like you don't want to prove anything now. Perhaps in a few years they would understand us. Nevertheless, the world is so big, don't you want to see the whole world? You can assume we’ll just go on a journey before death. Come on Your Grace, I don’t believe that honor is more precious to you than life. ”
But she is right and the sky is so blue, and life is so precious.
Fifteen minutes later, two silhouettes in black cloaks crawled out of a secret passage under the castle. They jumped on the horses waiting for them and soon the stomp of their horseshoes was drowned out by night silence.
One of them didn't know that several witnesses had appeared at the trial today and the Earl Ralph Arnaud was acquitted. Another one knew and that's why she was leading him into a trap. After all, what could be a better revenge than death on the threshold of freedom?
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