The Lullaby of Treble Castle - part 14a

The Lullaby of Treble Castle
part 14A

Florence wasn't ready for a showdown with Karoly. He had to break away from his brother and Severin for a few moments. They looked as if they were ready to plunge head-first into battle, which would have made plenty of sense. Lucien had been a knight, and Severin a fencing instructor. They had seen battle before.

The garden's rosebushes rustled in the wind. Florence always stopped by the garden when he was stressed, and seeing his beloved roses helped put his mind at ease. Nervousness swept through his body with each passing breeze. He hoped to find the same resolve Lucien kept with him. Seeing how it was possible that Achille was teaming up with Karoly, Lucien would need more courage than any of the others. Florence sighed.

Suddenly, Lucien walked in through the library gate. "Brother, though I never knew you as a child, I value your presence as family. I know you don't want to harm Karoly. You've always been a man of peace." He sat down next to a rosebush. "Just because I have been to battle in the name of the Queen does not make this any easier for me, you know. I don't want to kill the inventor, either. The curse only brought us all closer, if nothing else."

"You and Severin, you're on a different wavelength than I am," Florence said sadly. "Always so stoic and ready for anything. Maybe it's because Karoly is also from outside France?" He stood up, then he nodded towards Lucien. "...all right, I'm ready. Let's find him and get this over with."

Severin stood in the library. "Just call him. He can't ignore us."

"Just as well," Lucien grunted, shouting at the ceiling at the very top of his lungs. "KAROLY!!" His voice was so loud that the whole castle rumbled under his anger.

Karoly floated in, as expected. "My, my," he said. "Such animosity! What could be so troubling  as to enrage the holy knight ever so?"

"We need to talk," Severin said sternly.

"Is it about the little princess again? I told you that was not my doing." Karoly replied, letting himself land on the floor. "Poor little scholar, she felt as if her cousin would be-"

"She never would have known about Achille and the shadowlings if you hadn't told her!" Florence yelled at him. "What did you frighten her for, if not some selfish reason?"

Karoly crossed his arms. "Now, wait a minute, you three know exactly WHY I did it. I merely convinced Linda that if the curse was broken that she would be alone again like she was outside. The reason is because I do not want the curse broken. At all. We have lived far longer than any normal mortal men on Earth, the curse breaking could very well cost us our lives!"

"You couldn't just, I don't know, talk this out with us first?" Severin asked, giving Karoly a glare. "Spreading likes about Rachel getting snatched like that is completely uncalled for."

Karoly shrugged. "I can't do it myself... or I would have."

Lucien was just a few words away from stabbing Karoly through his cold, corrupted heart. "You would tamper with things that are not yours, bastard."

"Yes. I would," Karoly said it proudly.

"Hold, brother!" Florence shouted, stopping Lucien from taking any steps closer to Karoly. "What bothers me about this is I have no assurance that you will stop with the manipulation and leave the other ladies alone, Karoly."

"I've no need to ensnare the angel or the rose. They want to stay here, so I will leave them in peace. The princess is too stubborn. And too, what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh, yes, ungrateful for the gifts bestowed upon her. You'd think unconstitutional love and a magical home would please such a haughty lady like Rachel."

"Insult her again!" Lucien growled. "Insult my princess again, you lout! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand, ingrate!"

"Because... I am linked to Linda. Think of the consequences before you do it. You are not the only cursed one here." Karoly smiled devilishly. "And you would dare not hurt her, because you would not hurt your beloved little princess, Lucien."

"Now for my question," Severin said, finally stepping in and watching Florence pull Lucien away a bit more. "Have you had any contact with Achille?"

"Now why in Heaven's name would you ask something like that?" Karoly asked, his smile melting away.

"Achille has a vendetta against Lucien, and he always has." Severin explain it, his tone never deviating from his constant seriousness. "To get back at Lucien, he would consider trying to hurt Rachel."

Karoly shook his head in disgust. "You three teaming up to incriminate me like this really is what bothers me. You actually think I would take orders or even vague suggestions from the likes of Achille? Surely you jest. You three are like brothers to me, even if you have no Italian blood in you at all." He sat down on a table, not even caring that he'd knocked over a few books in the process. "We've been together hundreds of years now, living under the same curse cast upon us by a queen that I daresay never gave three thoughts about us, and you would consider me a traitor? How about that! Love comes into the picture and every single on of us is out for himself! What have we four come to? I will admit that what I did to Linda wasn't exactly the nicest thing I could have done, and that having a spell on Rachel means that she isn't going to be her natural self, but cut me some slack. I did it for you as well as myself. Look inside yourselves. How was Lucien going to persuade Rachel to love him eternally? That's right, he wasn't. The curse would break, we would be in a world so different from the one where we come from that it would seem like another existence all together, and they would go back home. We'd be left without anything. No magic, no home, no loves, and quite possibly, no life, either."

"Stop it, you're rambling, Karoly," Severin said, throwing a book at Karoly. "I understand why you did it. I understand that very well. I don't agree with your methods."

"I don't agree with you, period," Lucien grunted. "What you've done betrays my absolute trust!"

"It's not like I haven't been punished for this. I don't know why you'd want to take your weapons to me over this whole debacle," Karoly thought aloud. "The queen herself has knowledge of what I've done."

"What?!" Lucien asked. "Speak no more of this travesty. Her Highness has been among the angels for hundreds of years now."

"No, you need to hear this," Karoly replied gently. "Stop acting like you're going to kill me and listen for once in your life." He coughed a few times. "I was visited by the spirit of the Queen almost right after Linda cast the spell on Rachel. She was appalled at me, but because of how the curse works, not even she could punish me... so she sent me to the dungeons, like you were going to. The shadowlings had a bite. Let's just put it that way. The only reason she didn't confine me there was because I was linked."

"You're a liar," Lucien said, turning away. "I've no reason to believe you."

"What reason would I have to lie to you?" Karoly asked. "Ask Achille, he'll tell you. The ass had me tied down to one of his beds as the shadowlings had their supper."

"Then you have had contact!" Severin shouted.

"Pu-leeeze, if you consider physical and psycological torture to be contact, then sure. I'll have to feed on Linda eventually, they had so much of me. My life force is barely enough to do my job." Karoly sighed. "Look, I am really sorry about what I did. Lucien, forgive me. I did go against the rules we established the night they arrived. But if you really want to break the spell on her, I suggest you feed a little. That will help the spell fade away faster."

"Feeding won't break the spell. It might put me a bit more at ease about everything, but it will not make that spell go away," Lucien said quietly. "Karoly, we will be keeping a close eye on you. Maybe not directly, but every move you make will be documented. Don't speak to anyone other than Linda, and even then, speak nothing more of this incident." He walked out of the library. "I have a score to settle before I wake Rachel back up. I don't want there to be any danger for her to be in when she comes back to me."

"Wait... you used the lullaby, didn't you?" Karoly asked.

"We all did."

Karoly couldn't believe it. "Just keep getting yourselves in trouble, why don't you?! The lullaby isn't the safest sleeping spell in the world. It could very well separate the soul from the body, and then we're really at a disadvantage with Achille!"