The Heart of Mittengrad

Jaeger, myself, and Amber found ourselves sitting on the floor of an iron carriage, the walls cold and hard as it rolled through various kinds of terrain. None of us spoke; my mind was fixated on what was to come next. We traveled for hours, and all I could do was look at Amber’s petrified expression as she clung to her knees, staring at the wall in front of her, while Jaeger slept; or pretended to for the most part.

After a while, the carriage finally came to a halt. Jaeger tried his best not to take up more room in the carriage than he already did, pushing himself against the wall as much as he could. The locks started clicking outside as the men began opening the door frantically.

“Sire,” Jaeger finally spoke up, his voice a low rumble, “whatever I saw, whatever I know of, I won’t say a word.”

The gates of the carriage burst open. Faelar stood with his men, peering into the carriage as I tried adjusting my eyes to the sudden brightness outside. His men surrounded him as if they expected me to leap at him.

Jaeger descended the carriage first, the vehicle rising by feet when his weight left. I followed behind and was helping Amber off, before a guard interrupted me, pointing his sword at me. Faelar scowled at the man in the same flowing tongue he used to heal my wounds, and proceeded to let me help Amber off the carriage as the three of us dusted ourselves off.

In front of us stood a castle that would make most wonders in my world pale in comparison. It stood taller than any building I had ever seen, with towers and stained glass windows everywhere. Aristocrats wandered about; some eyeing the three of us and the guards around us as we ascended the staircase into the castle. Surrounding the main structure were watch-towers and various buildings that seemed to be associated with the castle’s inner workings, as there wasn’t a common-man as far as the eye could see.

Faelar’s words caught me in the midst of my gawking, “Shall we?”

“No shackles?” I asked, putting my arms together in front of him.

“On the guests of the king himself? Not if I want my head intact,” he laughed. His words confused me more than they put me at ease, as the three of us ascended the staircase. This time, Faelar was the only one who followed, while his armed men glared at us from behind their visors at the bottom of the staircase.

The entrance of the castle was adorned with two massive statues: one I recognized as King Aldric, and the other, to the left of the entrance, I couldn’t make out. Each supported the entryway like pillars, standing multiple stories tall. The hallway had multiple rooms, each hosting some sort of aristocrat busy with work; dealing with writing, sculpting, or speaking, reminding me more of a government building than an actual palace. Guards in light chainmail walked to and fro, eyeing us as we passed by.

“Welcome to Kaisergrad,” Faelar said, leading us down the hall, his eyes straight ahead as we tailed close behind him.

“Is his majesty’s palace always this busy?” I asked, eyeing one official who seemed to trip and drop a large collection of parchments onto the floor.

“Ever since King Fredreich has taken over, yes,” Faelar responded, a hint of pride in his voice.

We reached the end of the hallway, a common room where multiple guards stood all across, with some aristocrats talking amongst each other. Statues of what I presumed to be past Kings and Queens stood tall inside, each posing like a Greek God, albeit clothed. The smell of lavender filled the air.

Eventually, Faelar clapped thrice, revealing a staircase that seemingly started to rise from the floor itself, spiraling up into the tower above. It seemed as if the very tower itself had begun to shift. Jaeger and I looked awestruck, meanwhile, Amber seemed largely unimpressed, and even annoyed, at the theatrics as we ascended the staircase while the steps disappeared behind us.

We climbed and climbed until another hallway appeared to us from a large door that seemed to float in the air itself. The door, ornate with gemstones and carvings, stood out more than any. The staircase connected to the doorway, placing us at the very center of a long hallway, its red carpets and yellow, eagle-crested banners giving it more of a castle feel, as the door behind us disappeared.

He gestured for the three of us to enter a room towards the right that was held open by two workers, dressed in clothing better than our own and, surprisingly, with no collars around their necks. We walked inside to reveal a room of polished hardwood with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and various wardrobes lining the walls, complete with mirrors to the far right and a partition for changing.

“All of you are in no condition to greet the King,” he said, glaring at the three of us as he inspected us up and down.

“Yeah? And whose fault is that again, exactly?” I scoffed, only to receive an elbow to my stomach from Amber.

“No matter,” he said, clapping, which promptly signaled a few female workers to stand behind him.

“Ladies, please see to it that Mrs. Aizawa is dressed accordingly to greet the King.”

The women bowed, guiding Amber to another room while Jaeger and I were left standing with Faelar.

“Mr. Faelar, I do have to ask,” I finally spoke out, as Faelar eyed Jaeger up and down, “you said you were here to arrest us, but here you are, letting us play dress-up.”

Faelar paid no heed to my words, and proceeded to rub his chin, his eyes still fixed on Jaeger for a few minutes before finally speaking out. “I don’t think we have something that would fit you, but I suppose a cloak would do just fine,” he said, turning back on his heels and gesturing to one of the servants to fetch it for him.

“Mr. Faelar, are we to be judged by the king for our alleged crimes?” I said, following closely behind.

Faelar finally turned to me, his eyes fixed on my suit more so than my face, “We have got to get rid of that awful thing.”

“Mr. Faelar, I am not going to remove my suit, and I expect to be given answers,” my voice rang through the room, making the servants stop dead in their tracks for a few seconds.

Faelar’s intimidating gaze returned once more, his nostrils flaring. “Mr. Aizawa, do you know how old I am?”

“What?”

“Do you know how many years I have spent fighting for this Kingdom? For its people?”

“I fail to see what that has to do with either of my questions, Mr. Faelar.”

“Why, Mr. Aizawa, wherever you’re from,” he smirked, “I’m sure that they teach you that one should respect those in authority, or at least those older than them.”

“Regardless, my good suit was ruined by bandits, and I refuse to change out of this one,” I clung to the suit that had gone through and seen it all with me.

“Very well,” Faelar sighed, reaching his hand out and reciting an incantation in his language again. Before I could piece together what he was doing, water fell from the top of my head, the cold seeping through my skin before a gust of hot wind blew at me from all directions, effectively giving me a dry clean while I had my clothes on.

I set my hair down as well as I could, adjusted my glasses, and inspected my suit. Although it didn’t look any newer, it did appear slightly cleaner.

Before I could question Faelar again, a guard walked up and started helping Jaeger put on a yellow robe lined with fur. The doors opened, revealing Amber in the same clothes she was wearing before, now looking as new as ever.

Finally, with the three of us gathered in place, Faelar instructed us to follow him once more as we walked out back into the hallway. Towards the very end, guards lined the walls with their visors on, their armor pristine and shining, their eyes locked forwards. They knelt one by one as Faelar walked by.

As we finally reached the end of the hallway, we were greeted with the sight of a stone gate, embroidered with the two-headed Eagle of Mittengrad in Gold, towering above us, even Jaeger. Faelar extended his hand, reciting something slowly, as the crest glowed bright white and the gates began to open.