The dungeon, where the gardener was chained to the wall, was a depressing place to be. Although not seriously injured or tortured, he was dirty and bruised where he had been soundly beaten. The dungeon keeper was ordered by Tompty to unchain him immediately and to fetch hot water and towels. Elvira had brought a change of clothing for her father.
"Mayor Shacklefurthbury, it is a pleasure to meet you," The Prince introduced himself after Elvira had embraced her father, "I am Prince Arrik, my companion here is my cousin, Sir Tompty. We will leave your daughter for a few moments while we wait outside until you are ready to receive us, Sir."
The newcomers left Elvira to help her father wash and change before Elvira called Arrik back inside the dungeon cell.
As Arrick spoke to the Mayor, he was impressed by his dignity, even though the man still did not admit to the existence or otherwise of the chocolate rose bush, answering all questions with another question. His daughter had nothing to say on the subject but was tearful at the treatment of her father and his continuing discomfort.
Tompty was quiet, but from the appearance of his face, he was clearly unhappy how the mayor of the most important town in the kingdom has been beaten and imprisoned without trial and in the absence of just cause. Imprisoned and beaten over a chocolate rose? Tompty thought that this didn't make sense. He was reluctant to approach his father, until he was sure Arrik and his two new acquaintances were free of this cell. He persuaded the dungeon guard that his father had finished with questioning the gardener and they would take him home and send for a doctor to treat his injuries, to make him warm and comfortable for his recovery. He departed with the dungeon keeper to fill out the parchmentwork.
The gardener/mayor admitted to Arrik when they were alone, "Sire, there has been no preparation for the coronation of you, as our King, due in less than six months. And all mayors throughout the kingdom have received official but so far secret notification from the Count that the Regency would continue to rule for the foreseeable future. The Count added that he should be addressed as His Majesty in future, not His Excellency. There was no mention of the Prince's coronation in any correspondence at all. It is as if, like the chocolate rose, you as prince a future king only exist on the lips of the people."
Arrik pursed his own lips. He had started out investigating the chocolate rose, a mystery that seemed of little consequence to his future, just a bit of fun, a diversion from his normal restricted existence. The fate of the crown, though, was another matter, a development that hitherto he had no reason to imagine anything different to his expectations.
The Mayor continued, "You should be aware, Your Highness, that neither Queen nor Prince has been mentioned by name in any communique since the first one announcing the Regency, shortly after your father the old King died. Many people had begun to believe that our Queen and Prince also died at the same time."
Tompty returned during the last conversation and declared that he was not aware of this apparent policy by his father. He sat quietly in thought before speaking.
"Rik, I know nothing of this. If there was any threat to you, I have always been on and by your side. I swore an oath as Knight that I always will stand by you as Prince and King, to the death if necessary. And I would without any oath protect you with everything within my power as my cousin, my 'brother', my friend. My father does seem intent on continuing his Regency indefinitely or until he can perhaps declare himself king."
"For the Count to become king," the Mayor said, "he would have to rewrite the law, as no baron can be king, only a prince, like you Sir Tompty as son of a princess and Prince Arrik heir to a king."
"I am a soldier, not a king, Sir," Tompty declared to the Mayor. "I only serve the king as my master. Rik is an excellent scholar, bright and keen to learn. Rik has been kept away from court and his mother, and has had little training in how to rule. But I am sure he will catch up. He was born to be a king. However, in his isolation, he has had no opportunity to gather allies to his cause. His training has also meant that he is ill-equipped to take the throne back by military means."
Tompty looked upset by the delivery of his own words and thoughts. The treachery of his father, the Prince's uncle, was a reflection on him, his sister, on his whole family.
"The Prince has the will of the common people," Elvira said firmly. Her father nodded in agreement.
Through the dungeon keeper, after the Prince left, the information that the Prince had been in the Palace, and acting in defiance of the Count, whipped though the castle as quickly as the rumours of the chocolate rose had, and spread further out into the countryside.
Apparently, like the chocolate rose, the people discussed whether the Prince actually existed, as the Count hasn't mentioned him since the old king died. Also they had long understood that the Queen had continued in mourning and shut herself off from the people. They began to question this impression too.
As the Prince's coach rode back to Elvira's house at the foot of the hill on the edge of the town, the Mayor revealed to the Prince that the chocolate rose never actually existed, it was a rallying cry for the people against the oppressive rule of the Count and his swingeing import costs, as hardly anyone had tasted real chocolate in years.
All the mayors throughout the Kingdom had been warned to have the local militia on standby as an important proclamation was to be made by the Count in the spring and they were warned that there may be trouble. The senior mayors, chief among them the Mayor of Newmarket town, met in secret. All agreed that it looked like the Count was planning to crown himself king. Without saying it, the mayors all knew what the fate of the true Prince and Queen would be when the Regent took the throne
This is what prompted the Mayor to come up with the concept of the magical appearance of the chocolate rose. The rose was likened to the Prince, whose appearance to solve the ills of the kingdom was wished by the people. The fact that the Prince was also lured out of hiding and now appeared free of the Count's clutches was a bonus.
"I've not been hiding-" began Arrik, before realisation dawned on him. "Oh, I suppose I have been, or at least been hidden from view. And by being out of mind I have been forgotten, which was my uncle's plan."
"Not totally forgotten, Your Highness," Elvira said, "just relegated to legend, nursery stories, nursery rhymes and the like."
"Please call me 'Rik', El, when we are with my friends, except when we're in formal company." He smiled at the maiden, who smiled warmly back at him. Arrik thought they had shared a moment there that made an impression on them both.
"Whoa!"
They heard the yell from the coachman and the coach skidded swiftly to a halt.
Arrick and Tompty were out of the doors, right and left respectively, before the coach had stopped rocking on its springs. There, standing in the road ahead of them, was a heavily-set man dressed as a highway robber holding onto the lead horse, two mounted men behind brandishing swords and a fourth ruffian standing on an elevated slope to the left side, armed with a nocked and drawn bow and arrow aimed at the Prince.
They all wore hoods drawn over their heads, disguising their faces.
Tompty drew his sword, Arrick was unarmed, other than his sling, into the end of which he placed several stones from a pouch attached to his belt. He imagined that if he got close enough to a villain he could use it as a cosh. Arrik was on the opposite side of the coach from Tompty. He heard the door creak as Elvira descended the steps behind him. Arrick allowed the weighted end of his sling to drop down ready for swinging as he crept up alongside the coach horses, while Tompty drew their attention away from Arrik's right hand side, by shouting at their attackers.
"What do you mean by this hold-up on the King's road?" Tompty sternly demanded of the four men.
The bowman pointed his arrow at the bold young knight, dressed in common citizen clothing.
"Drop yer weapon an' stand aside, young knight," yelled the large man holding onto the coach horses, "and ye'll come to no 'arm, we on'y needs a few pennies to buy ale an' bread at the inn. 'Tis a 'ard winter for them what's out o' work."
"Well, I have some pennies for you," Tompty threw a handful of tiny silver coins from his pocket onto the road, "Now be off with you fellows before I lose my temper."
"Best I don't lose mine, young sir or ye'll be leaking scarlet from an arrow wound. Mind my words now, you drop yer weapon!"
Arrick was almost alongside the speaking man, whose field of vision was affected by the hood he wore. Arrick swung the heavy sling and cracked it against the hooded skull of the robber. The man fell sprawled across the road, his hood falling away as he fell.
"Dargo!" cried Tompty, recognising the captain of his father's personal guard.
The leading coach horses reared up at the sudden movement by Arrik and the robber falling at their feet. The horses of the two mounted robbers reared up in like fashion and the raiders had to hang on or their mounts might have bolted and thrown their riders. The coach horses were held in place by the brakes of the coach, the rains of the coachman driver and the other two horses blocking the road in front of them.
Tompty moved towards Dargo but stopped as an arrow hit him in the middle of his chest. After standing stock still for a moment he fell backwards onto the ground.
Arrik was not aware of this development and was already running to the nearest horseman and rapped the horse on the rump, causing it to bolt. The second horseman lifted his sword above his head in preparation to strike the impudent youth, but Arrik was able to strike his horse with his sling too, and the robber was nearly thrown as his mount leapt away while his unbalanced rider tried to regain control.
The archer had nocked another arrow onto his bow and loosed it off at Arrik. The Prince was sure that he was done for, he saw it coming straight for him and he had no time to get out of the way, but the arrow somehow veered off line and whizzed past his left shoulder. Arrik swung his weighted sling and this time released the four stones contained within, three of which hit the archer in the face, the fourth lodging into his throat. The archer was stone dead before he even hit the ground.
Arrik loaded his sling with a single pebble to follow the two mounted robbers, and stepped round to Tompty's side of the coach. Only now did he see his stricken cousin on the floor. He looked up and saw one of the robbers was trying to control his mount and turn back to face his quarry.
Arrik fired his stone, which hit the robber full square on the side of his head, so that he fell off his mount to the floor. The other man saw the day was lost and that he was on his own. He dropped his sword, urging his mount to flee and made only two or three steps before a shot hit him on the back of his head and rattled his brain until he was unconscious. He slumped over the pommel and the horse carried its senseless rider off into the distance, presumably back to its home stable.
By the time Arrik turned his attention back to his best friend, Elvira was already kneeling by his side, had withdrawn the arrow and was pressing her hands on his chest to stem the flow of blood, which seeped between her long pale fingers, and with her soft voice encouraged Tompty to breathe again.
Fearing the worst, with tears in his eyes, Arrik knelt on the other side of his friend. Surely, no-one could survive such a wound. Picking up the arrow he noticed that the metal tip was unbarbed, presumably so that it could be removed easily by the archer without leaving evidence behind which might lead to the identity of the murderer.
"How's Tom?" he asked of the young teacher, her hands covered in blood, still pressing down on Tompty's chest. Suddenly, the young knight coughed, opened his eyes and let out an enormous breath. Slowly, he breathed in again, trying to sit up.
"Lay back, Tom," Elvira insisted, "please take it easy. You have a serious wound. Can we have a blanket here, please?" she called.
The two coachman had not been idle since the threat disappeared. One of them was tying up the lead robber, already identified by Tompty as 'Dargo', while the other coachman fetched a couple of the blankets that had been wrapped around the legs of the driver, and handed them to Elvira. Then he ran off with a luggage strap to tie up the other fallen bandit thirty paces down the road.
"That was a shot from the archer Birtley, the best bowman in the land," said the first coachman, "Sir Tompty's lucky he weren't killed outright, and as for you, Sire, I dunno how he coulda missed you completely from such a range. It is said that Birtley never misses!"
The coachman pulled the parchment off the coach doors, proudly revealing the royal coat of arms. "No need to hide who we is now, Sire!" he said with pride.
Elvira finished tucking one blanket round the wounded knight, then folded the other and pressed it against his wound to stem the flow of his life force.
Arrik leaned over and patted his cousin on the shoulder comfortingly. He turned to the maid whose prompt action had given Tompty a chance to live.
"Thank you, El," he said to her, "I think you have saved his life."
"He has a long way to go before he makes a full recovery, Rik, that is a bad wound," she whispered to Arrik so Tompty couldn't hear, her plump red lips brushing the tiny hairs on his ear, "We need to get him to the hospital in Newmarket town to clean and bind his wound properly as soon as we can."
(to be continued)