Vacant Throne

Alyssa had never attended something that could be described as a feast before. Not on Earth. Not on Nod. The largest group-meal she had been to had been some fundraiser in high school. Nothing fancy, in fact the food had been terrible. It was just for parents to come and donate to the school theater group. Maybe an all-you-can-eat buffet counted, but that lacked the grandiose nature of the scene before her.

The palace was a large building with many large rooms, but this one had to be one of the largest. A dozen wide tables were set beneath enormous banners of various great houses. Each table could seat twenty. Some of the larger houses even had smaller tables set around them like little satellites. Not every seat was actually filled, though. Although Fela’s absence from the city had helped to calm down some of the racist anger, a few of the houses were still protesting humanity’s closer association with monsters and had only sent a few token individuals to participate in the night’s events. Even still, there were a few hundred people sitting around, all wearing clothes fitting of the upper crust.

Including Alyssa.

She had decided to not object to the dress or the sandals. After a bit of practice dancing with Companion, she had decided that the dress wouldn’t show anything that she was uncomfortable with and that the sandals, while she wished they were closed toed, were at least easy to move in.

Alyssa shot a quick glance to Brakkt. He, along with some of the other royal children, were all seated at the head table. The same one that Alyssa had been seated at, though she was quite far down toward the end. The other tables were all circular. This one was a long rectangle where people were only seated on one side so that they had an unobstructed view of the rest of the room. And so that the rest of the room had an unobstructed view of them. It wasn’t a perfect rectangle, though. It was slightly curved, like a crescent moon without the points. Just enough so that someone sitting at the table didn’t have to lean far forward to look at someone a seat or two away.

Brakkt was dressed in something almost resembling a modern suit. It had just a hint of robe-like qualities… maybe making it more like a tailcoat, though the front had criss-crossing laces up and down it rather than any buttons. It was a stark contrast to what he usually wore, which tended to either be his armor or something so extremely casual that he looked like any old peasant on the streets. His dark hair had been styled as well, having been washed and brushed. It made her wonder if servants had bathed him or if he had done it himself.

At that thought, Alyssa had to turn away before her cheeks lit on fire. Companion’s earlier talk had her all kinds of self-conscious that she didn’t need at the moment.

Irulon, who Alyssa decided to focus on to distract herself, was seated much closer though still a few seats away. Companion sat immediately adjacent to her. With the whole twin-thing they had going on, she might have thought that Irulon would have been wearing something similar to what Companion had with her sides open for all to see. But that couldn’t be further than the truth. Her dress more closely resembled Brakkt’s clothes, a suit except in dress form. It was open at the front, but long and flowing in the back and sides. Thigh-high stockings made her expose only a thin sliver of skin on her legs. The upper half was something more like what Alyssa had on. A vest, though hers had full sleeves.

She looked prim and proper. Chatting with a sibling of hers with a smile on her face, Alyssa might have thought that she was even happy to be here. Alyssa knew the princess just a little too well. The way her eyes narrowed every time something new distracted her, the way her legs were crossed, the corners of her mouth… She was more irritated than Alyssa could ever remember. Even being nearly killed by a gaunt was preferable to this, it seemed.

“So… what are you?”

Alyssa sighed. It had been a long time since someone mistook her for something other than human. The glowing eyes probably didn’t help, yes, but still… She turned to her side where the Third Prince was sitting directly adjacent to her, a man with a dress style similar to Brakkt, at least at the moment, though clearly far less interested in maintaining a healthy body despite his otherwise familial likeness. Alyssa was about to inform him that she was a human, only to hesitate. He wasn’t looking at her, but rather just past her.

To her opposite side, Fela glared out over the assembling members of the great houses. She had been dressed and washed as well. It was kind of a shame she hadn’t been around. Alyssa would have paid to see the servants try to wash her, both for their reactions to the hellhound as well as Fela’s reactions to being forcibly scrubbed down. Though knowing Fela, she had probably enjoyed the bath. It was the tailor that Alyssa really wished to have seen.

Fela normally didn’t wear much clothing at all. It was just her natural state of being. Because she had a humanoid body and because Alyssa had a feeling that most humans would freak out if she ran around completely naked at all times, Alyssa and Irulon had devised something along the lines of short-shorts and a thin top that she would be able to put on and take off easily enough. Metal chains provided easy gripping points even without opposable thumbs. She could just hook her claws into the metal and pull, essentially.

Alyssa doubted that she would be able to get in or out of what she was wearing tonight on her own, though the designers of the outfit had clearly taken inspiration from the metal chains of her usual clothes. She was the only one of the main table that wasn’t wearing either black or a dark maroon. Instead, she wore something more akin to a chain mail halter top, with the chain links being made from gold. There was a bit of the violet metallic thread woven in, but that was hardly visible against the predominantly gold background.

And she absolutely was not paying attention to the Third Prince.

Nudging her in the side got her looking over, but she had still completely missed the question.

Sighing, Alyssa looked back to the Third. “This is Fela. A hellhound. Which I’m sure you know as she works for your father.”

“Does it? Ahaha~ I don’t know these things. My brother is going to become the Pharaoh, so why bother learning? I just have to take it easy.”

Alyssa narrowed her eyes. Why couldn’t she have sat next to Irulon, Companion, or Brakkt? Or Kasita? Why did Kasita get to be down at the opposite end of the table? Was it to balance out the guests of the royal family? Fela and Alyssa on one end, Kasita and Izsha on the other?

Poor Izsha. The draken didn’t exactly have a chair or a place at the table. A banner bearing the shield and ravens emblem had basically been draped over its back. Alyssa felt a bit bad about mentioning Izsha at all, now. She was sure it would be far more happy down in the stables than being forced to stand around up here.

“Your eyes are pretty freaky. Yours too,” he added with a glance to Fela. “But I’m fine with freaky. Why don’t the three of us get out of here and—”

“I’ll break your legs.”

He pulled back, leaning to the left. “Scary~” His tone and his movements did not match his words. His word. And, after a moment, he leaned back toward Alyssa and Fela. “But I like scary too.”

Alyssa held out her hand. With a flourish of the power of creation, a pair of scissors appeared. “How do you feel about castration?”

His violet eyes turned toward the scissors in Alyssa’s hands. He jumped a little as she snipped them together. Licking his lips as if they were a bit too dry, he looked back to Alyssa. “Just a little too scary for me.”

Clenching her fists, destroying the scissors as she did so, Alyssa said, “Good.” Maybe it was a bit much to threaten a prince like that, but Alyssa was already a bit beyond irritated at the whole situation. And the seating arrangement. There were other princes around the table. Couldn’t she have gotten a different one for a neighbor?

A heavy gong echoed throughout the large chamber as she mused on the royal family. Amusingly, that made the Third Prince jump again, though the effect was probably ruined by Alyssa jumping as well. Her hand immediately moved to her side, but she grasped nothing but air. Neither her gun nor her spell cards had a place on this dress. All she had were a few cards slid into the vest portion of her outfit for emergencies and Tenebrael’s power. Which wasn’t anything to scoff at—she had been practicing the conjuration of completed spell cards—but she would have preferred to have been better armed.

Thankfully, nothing requiring the use of magic or bullets happened. It was just the signal for the feast to begin. Servants brought out huge trays of all kinds of goods. More variety in food than Alyssa had seen at any one meal since arriving… maybe even more than all the meals she had seen combined, but probably not quite that far.

Alyssa was glad that Companion had given her a brief rundown of what to expect or she would have been extremely confused by the absolutely massive slab of bread that the servants placed down first. It acted like a plate for the meal tonight, but afterwards, it would be broken up and handed out to the poor. It was just bread, but it would be soaked in juices from meat and vegetables and gravy, and covered in spices that would all give it more flavor than most poor people got to taste in their entire lives. Alyssa didn’t quite know what to think of the practice. On one hand, yes, it was good to give food to the less fortunate. But… handing out something she ate off, leaving behind bits of food all seemed kind of… disgusting.

But who was she to question a seemingly good-natured and quite charitable practice.

Beyond the bread plate, the servants started laying out trays of all kinds of goods. More bread, of the much smaller and directly edible variety, along with cured meats, cheese, olives, nuts, dried fruit and just about everything else one might find at a fancy catered wedding. Except little chocolates or a cake, obviously. There were more large food items as well, though those didn’t get set around the table for everyone to grab whenever they wished. The servants walked along, offering a large variety of roasted meats. Some were still on the bone. Others had been cut separate. Alyssa considered taking an absolutely massive drumstick from some kind of bird, maybe a giant goose or something, but after seeing how Fela was looking at it, decided to go for a much more reasonably sized and beautifully cooked lamb shank.

Alyssa couldn’t help but notice that the servant leaned really far back as Fela practically lunged for the massive drumstick.

Another servant came around, this one with drink. Alyssa wasn’t offered a choice with this one, she just got a glass of ruby red liquid poured into a fanciful goblet of silver. Not the amber-colored Tyrian wine that Irulon preferred, thankfully—it was far too sweet for Alyssa’s tastes. Giving it a little taste test, Alyssa found it to be quite good. She hadn’t been a sommelier back on Earth by any stretch of the word’s definition, but she had tried a few wines. This didn’t really taste like any. It was hot, surprisingly, and had a cinnamon-clove taste to it that tingled on the back of her tongue. Very unique, nothing like something she had tasted before.

Quite good. She might be calling for a refill before the end of the night.

The feast got fully underway shortly after the serving began. Some hall steward called for a brief invocation to Tenebrael, thanking her for… well, everything really. Luckily they just said “everything” and didn’t start a big long list, letting Alyssa get to the food a little faster.

It was by far the most tasteful and flavorful food she had eaten. Maybe not even just on Nod, but on Earth as well. Whatever gravy had been served was absolutely exquisite, but it almost felt a shame to pour it on the meat as the meat was delicious on its own. Really, it was far better suited for some of the dinner rolls. The cheeses were great and Alyssa didn’t even normally like cheese that much.

After a few minutes, the steward of the hall announced some entertainment.

Strippers.

Or so Alyssa thought at first.

There was a wide empty space in the middle of the hall with all the great houses’ tables set up around it. From the main doors, about a dozen people, both men and women, walked out. None were wearing much more than Companion was, most far less. They started out simply dancing, waving around sticks in a graceful manner. A few of them had long ribbons attached to their sticks, twirling them like a modern gymnast complete with acrobatics. Others simply had silver poles of varying sizes.

Their dance started slow and methodical. Over the course of a few minutes, it picked up, increasing in pace to the point where Alyssa really felt that they needed some music to go along with their dancing.

Then everything burst into flames. Literally. The metallic stick sprouted flames on either ends. The ribbons turned to whips of fire.

Alyssa tensed until she realized that nobody else was panicked. It was all part of the show. Flame twirlers and fire eaters. Probably arcanists as well.

“Bit jumpy, aren’t you?”

Grimacing, she shot a glance at the Third Prince. “Well excuse me for constantly finding myself among assassins and brigands.”

“I get that. I almost died not so long ago all because I’m some prince that will never see the throne.” He shrugged, popping a grape into his mouth. “But these guys are nothing to worry about. They get invited to every feast. Never even change up their routine. Watch the tall one in the middle. In a moment, he is going to spin the flaming staff in his hand, toss it straight up, and create an illusion that makes it look like the entire ceiling is on fire. There won’t be any heat, just the sight of it.”

Turning back to the flame twirlers, Alyssa watched. Sure enough, he was right. It was a dazzling display, but one that nobody actually reacted to. People were eating, talking among their neighbors, and hardly paying attention to the poor dancers. If they actually did the same thing every single time, it was no wonder that they got ignored. They really should at least switch it up a bit… then again, by being so ignored, they would be the perfect troupe for an assassin to infiltrate…

“But I heard rumors that there will be something new tonight. After these fire eaters clear out, we’ll be getting a lute player in.”

“A lute player is something new?”

“Supposedly.”

“Hm…” Turning back to the fire dancers, Alyssa had to frown. “I think these guys could use a lute player.” They did make noises. Lots of sharp ‘Ha’s that made their performance sound like something from a marital arts movie. “What do you think, Fela?”

The hellhound wasn’t paying much attention. Using one sharp claw, she was skewering just about every slice of cured meat that she could get from the tray while picking at her teeth using the completely meatless drumstick bone. She did stop at being addressed, but looked completely confused about what Alyssa wanted.

Sagely, Alyssa nodded. “That’s about what I thought.”

“Did you want some?” Fela asked, holding her claw up to Alyssa.

Deciding to sample some, Alyssa pulled the topmost skewered slice of meat from Fela’s claw. The hellhound looked heartbroken that her kindhearted offer had actually been taken up, but didn’t complain. As for the meat… it tasted just like a summer sausage. Good, but she always preferred her summer sausages on a cracker with a bit of cheese and a dab of sweet-hot mustard. While there was cheese on the table and bread could substitute for crackers, the mustard was really required to tie it all together.

Fortunately for Fela, a few servants came around again, offering more of the real meat. Fela happily took a gigantic hunk of meat on the bone, a slicing of pork belly, and a rather large pie of small chunks of meat that the servant helpfully informed them was actually rabbit. While the servants were around, Alyssa got a quick refill of her mulled wine.

Just in time for the flame tossers’ act to come to an end with a wall of fire filling the center of the room.

They bowed. People gave them a few polite acknowledgments. Not clapping, but snapping of the finger and thumb that equated to a softer but similar sound when compared with applause.

As they cleared out, a new group arrived. This one much smaller than the last, only a quartet. But Alyssa leaned forward, barely managing to avoid jumping to her feet. Although he had grown his hair way out, she still recognized the face of Chris as he dragged out a few lutes. What Alyssa could only assume were band mates—Chris found band mates?—were bringing out equipment as well. The largest being a set of very modernly arranged drums, even if the materials that had been used to construct them were far from modern. There was the big upright bass, a few smaller ones right above, a larger one to the side, and even some brass symbols. The other big instrument was what looked like an upright bass, though the shape of the wood body looked more like an acoustic guitar than that of a traditional double bass.

It must have cost a fortune. Alyssa had to wonder just how Chris had managed to put together this little group. Given his presence here, he might have been bankrolled by someone in one of the great houses. That suspicion doubled over when she realized that one of the members was an arcanist. The woman pulled out a few spell cards and started casting them on the instruments. Sound amplification, Alyssa assumed.

The drummer sat down at the now assembled drum set, bowing his head like he had suddenly decided to take a nap. The arcanist moved to stand next to the bass, then bowed her head as well. The last of the band mates picked up a flute. Or maybe a recorder. Some wind instrument.

Finally, Chris sat down in front of what was clearly modeled after a microphone, but was probably just a simple piece of wood being used as the anchor for whatever voice amplifying spell the arcanist had cast upon it. To his sides were two separate instruments. A more traditional lute complete with the bent neck and a much more modern-looking acoustic guitar.

Picking up the lute, he glanced around, meeting the eyes of his band mates. With a small nod between them, he started playing.

Alyssa knew from the very first plucked string of that lute exactly what Chris was going to play. She wasn’t sure if it was the most famous intro riff in Earth’s history, but it was probably pretty close. The individual with the recorder joined in and, a few moments later, Chris started to sing.

“There’s a lady who’s sure

All that glitters is gold

And she’s buying a stairway… to Heaven…”