Ted thought it had been obvious – it had been a joke. There was no way regicide could be on the table. Ted liked being alive.
Still, Eknie was hiding a gun under her dress. It was clear to Ted, who knew exactly how she hid her revolvers and other things that could be potentially lethal.
"Calm down," he hissed at her over his plate of bacon. "No. Murders."
"I can't believe you're the one saying that," Eknie whispered to him. "But I promise to behave."
As much as Madorn was hated around here for outshining some very important people, he was still treated rather well. Mad got preferential treatment from the royal guards who all wanted some advice to go with their bacon.
"And then…then there is the matter of the bridge…frankly, I think the worrying movements are…well, worrying…it just won't stop wobbling, say, Madorn, could you help the engineers? For many reasons, the project is important for me…might make it or break it when it comes to my promotion…"
"My daughter has been denied access to the university library. When is the Grim Comet passing by again? We have a wedding to plan…"
Ted chuckled into his coffee. The scientist looked so royally annoyed by the royal guard that the murderous gentleman nearly bailed him out, but then again, the variations of that same, sneering frown were just too much fun to watch.
Eknie was doing the exact same thing – entertaining herself with the buzzing of the crowd around Mad. She usually got marriage offers if she went out alone, but now Ted and Mad were present. At least she had told Ted she had problems getting men to leave her alone.
This was not a bad thing. It kept her angry. Anger kept her useful.
Ted tapped his cup of coffee with a spoon.
The buzzing stopped.
"Might I be able to ask why we are being kept in this inn?" he asked with his softest, most polite voice. "I have been thoroughly puzzled by the fact that you neither want us to roam around freely nor have thrown us onto an airship to Sennas. Why is this?"
The reason was explained to him.
Long ago, the Diamond King had made a promise to support one of Madorn's competitors. To save his honor, the king could not have Madorn publicly supporting any project, whether western or eastern, but the king did want to take part in Mad's endeavors. Madorn was highly valued – it was a shame that no one was able to say it out loud.
There could be an opportunity here. Perhaps Ted could talk himself under the wing of the Diamond King. Surely, the king would be a formidable ally, just the kind of backup the adventurers needed while on a mission to conquer the Fin for themselves.
Ted put the wheels in motion, but it would take some time for the Diamond King to clean out his schedule for an afternoon.
The gilded cage would be populated for a while.
During that time, Ted commanded Madorn to make secret notes concerning everything they knew about old eastern airships and why the type was going to be changed. Ted did not trust the royal family, or the guards, or anyone out here for that matter.
Madorn was also to do research about whatever he needed to know in order to make his mystery machine work. Ted did not think twice about bossing Mad around, and to his delight, the scientist was either obedient or studious enough to do everything he was supposed to do and then some more. Madorn was never too far away from books and papers, but he was also an expert when it came to hiding his true intentions. To any random onlookers, his notes seemed like mere doodles. Ted recognized the patterns, though, or at least some of them. They were complex mathematical formulas. Ted suspected that Mad was insane. It was hard to imagine a healthy mind translating those formulas into stick figures in different positions.
Ted and Eknie were allowed to walk around accompanied by two guards. They opened an international bank account in Ted's name and then the gold business was sorted out in a sleek and efficient way. They merely had to wait for the news to reach the branch in Neul.
However, the Diamond Kingdom was so full of secrets and mysteries that even without the possibility of a meeting with the ruler, Ted would have spent more time in the capital. He intended to engage in some heavy duty industrial spy work to find out what on earth the eastern people had been putting into those airships. There had to be a good reason for the discontinuation of the old models. Otherwise, the Fin would have been utilized for all it was worth, and such things would have already been set in motion.
The next logical step in Ted's plan was to loosen up the grip of the crown that squeezed the necks of the adventurers. For that, they had to wait until the king called them to come to his palace.
Then the day came, and the guards checked the two men for any hidden weapons. They even had a person who looked like a female guard pat Eknie down. Eknie looked amazed.
Ted smiled. Eknie was a bit silly at times. The Diamond Kingdom had so much to offer, and this girl was dumbfounded by a she-guard in a dress, as if her own favorite hobby hadn't always been putting holes in living things.
"You, I need to go shooting with you some day," Eknie chirped at the guard. "Do you have anything tomorrow?"
"It's my day off." The she-guard took one final look inside Eknie's shoes. "For practice…I think I have a few hours. Just for the sake of…"
"For the sake of shooting things?" Ted suggested. He was honestly a bit relieved to see Eknie excited over meeting a new person. It was hard to be the only one she admired.
Then they were let into the garden of the palace.