The Trouble with Time, Part 2.22 - Count

"This place is magnificent," Sam says, looking around the throne room. The walls are lined with giant portraits and long curtains, and there's marble statues and vases all around the room. There's potted plants and flower arrangements and tables full of smaller statuettes and candelabra. It being the time of the Winter Court, most of the color is muted blues and grays and whites, but everything still seems to pop.

Kevin glances up, at the Faerie Kings and Queens past, gazing down from their portraits with disinterest if not disdain, and he feels small underneath them. It feels like they're judging him, scrutinizing his every move. He tries to ignore them, focuses instead on the Advisor's chair.

If there is anything that can be said to be "on the King's left", it's the Royal Advisor. He's a stern old man by the name of Count Dolfekieng, one of the very few left of the Ancient Folk, and he is always by the King's side. Specifically, his left side. Even his bed chamber is immediately to the left of the Royal chamber. The King trusts him immensly, and he is indeed wisened by the years, even if Kevin thinks he's gotten a bit too stuck in his ways.

Nevertheless, this must be it. It must.

"Do you think it's inside the throne?" Sam asks as they join him by the chair. "Like, some kind of secret compartment?"

"One way to find out," he says. He places his hands on the immaculately carved mahogany armrests and starts to feel through every inch of the chair's surface. He runs his hands along the sides, down the back and the legs. His fingers brush against the soft weave of the decorative quilt lain down on the chair. He couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary. "Shit," he says.

Sam is examining the chair as well, their handling of the furniture piece a bit more rough than his, including knocking and thumping to see if a piece would fall loose. Nothing does. They pause to think.

"Here, let me try something," they say and circle around to the front, before sitting down. They shuffle for a bit, place their hands on the armrests. They pause again for a moment. "There!" they exclaim and hit their right fist down on the rest hard enough to make Kevin jump.

There is a click and a soft groan. The chair starts to push back, revealing underneath an unlit set of stairs leading down.

"Damn," says Sam, climbing carefully off the chair to not fall into the now open hole. "I really did hope it would be a secret compartment."

"How did you find that?" Kevin asks, peering down into the darnkess. What on earth is below the throne room? Why hasn't he ever realized he doesn't know?

"This is not the first time I've had to find a hidden switch in furniture," they say, digging a torch from their bag. "Classic hiding place for drugs."

"Right," he says. The light of the torch flickers on and they shine it down the stairs. "Shall we?"

~x~

The stairs are long. By Kevin's estimate, they go down at least two storeys, which would mean they are actually underground by the time they come to a stop. The stairs open up into a fairly small room. There seems to be a light blue glow about the room, not unlike the caverns of the volcano, but without an obvious source. The room is empty, except for a pedestal stood in the middle. And on top of the pedestal is a simple metal box.

"Is that it?" Sam asks, their voice barely above a whisper. There is a... presence to the room, one that demands reverence.

"I think it is," Kevin answers back. Slowly they make their way to the middle and stop in front of it.Sam nudges him. He frowns. He doesn't feel like he should touch the box, but he knows he should.

He touches it, gently. He snatches his hand back and shakes it. His fingertips feel numb from the burn.

"What happened?" Sam asks, worried. They try to take his hand to examine it, but he keeps it away.

"I'm fine, but you have to be the one to pick that thing up," he says Sam gives him one more look, before turning towards the box once more.

They tap a finger against the side, clearly expecting a similar reaction, but nothing happens. They take a hesitant hold of the sides of the lid and lift it open.

"Oh yikes," they say and slap the box closed again. It feels like something breaks. The tension is gone.

"That's it alright," Kevin says.

"Why is it-- I mean, I've seen a heart or two in my day," Sam says, opening the box again and looking in with a mixture of curiosity and disgust. "But that... That's Vanessa's actual, literal heart in that box."

"As I've said, the Fae are very literal," Kevin says.

"But why is it beating?"

"She would die if her heart stopped beating, wouldn't she?"

"Yeah, but..! It's already out of her body!"

Kevin doesn't say anything, just gives Sam a look. They groan.

"This is the single most disturbing thing I've ever seen."

"I fully believe that. Now grab it and let's go before someone--"

There's a sound behind them and they both spin around. Someone is slowly descending the stairs, their footsteps echoing in the empty space. They wait, frozen to place as a man emerges from the darkness.

Kevin's blood runs cold. He should have known it wouldn't be so easy.

"Well, well, well," says Count Dolfekieng as he stands before them, clad in his full regalia. He grins and his teeth are sharp. "Cutting it a bit close, are we? Here to steal the Heart back?"

"Stealing is such an unpleasant word," Kevin says, giving him a mock polite smile. "We're just here to relocate it."

"I do believe the quest is to reclaim..." The Count pauses, noticing that it's just the two of them. "And where is that little human girl? Surely you're not trying to complete the quest for her, Cadeyrn. That would be cheating."

Kevin and Sam exchange glances. He doesn't have a plan and he's freaking out a bit. He's hoping that maybe he can distract the Count long enough for Sam to grab the Heart and run.

"You don't need to concern yourself with where she is," he tells the Count. His mind is racing, trying to come up with something, anything.

"That's right," Sam is saying next to him. He can barely hear them from the buzz in his head. "What you should concern yourself with is me."

They lunge at the Count.

"Sam, no!" Kevin yells, trying to reach out but they're too fast.

There is a short scuffle. Sam is trying to tackle the Count to the ground and he's trying to push them off him.

"Take the Heart and run!" they shout and it's all Kevin can do to not start screaming in that moment. He can't do that, he can't touch the box! And even if he could, he can't just leave Sam here!

An idea crosses his mind and he turns to the box.

"Step away from the Heart, boy," the Count says and he freezes. He looks over his shoulder. The Count has Sam in a deadlock, one arm twisted behind their back. They're grimacing in pain.

He slaps the lid of the box closed, trying not to touch it any more than necessary, before putting his hands up. There's a dull throbbing in his chest.

"That was quite a foolish idea, human," the Count says, twisting Sam's hand even further. They cry out. "Don't move, Cadeyrn!" he calls out as Kevin takes an instictive step forward.

"That really was a foolish idea, Sam," he agrees, keeping his hands up.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Sam grits out. Underneath the pain lining their face, there is a grin.

A soft tssssssss fills the air.

The Count blinks. His hold loosens. He stagger a bit, catches himself.

"What..." he mutters. He's let go of Sam, who takes a step away.He sways a bit more, and then his eyes roll back and he falls face down onto the floor.

Kevin looks at the passed out Count in wonder. Sam twirls the now empty hypo shot in their fingers.

"That was... stupidly risky," Kecin says.

"You're welcome," Sam says. They hurry over to pedestal and grab the box. "Now let's go, I don't know how long it will work."

Kevin spares the Count one last glance before they're speeding up the stairs.

~x~

The guard at the door jumps as they slam through the door, but they don't stop. They're speed walking back down the corridor they came from, both desperate to spring into a run, but knowing they can't. They're not out yet so they still need to not draw attention to themselves. Sam is holding the iron box close to their chest.

They're just about to exit from the main building when an alarm starts blaring.

"Shit," says Kevin.

"I guess we better run," says Sam and is about to do just that, but he stops them by grabbing onto their elbow.

"Wait," he says and they turn to look at him. "We can't get out that way anymore. There'll be a whole bunch of guards at the door by the time we get there."

"Well what can we do?" they ask, glancing around. Nobody is in the immediate vicinity, but he can hear footsteps and noises not far from them.

"We need to use an alternative exit."

He turns and starts to head back into the main building. They're running now, not full sprint, but still running, ducking into smaller passages as they hear people approach. They're going up stairs. Several flights of stairs.

"You do know where you're going right?" Sam pants behind him. "We seem to be going up a lot, and that seems like the worst direction to get out from!"

"Trust me on this!" Kevin yells back.

"There they are!" echoes the call of a guard behind them and there's at least a halfdozen people after them. They speed up as best they can.

They duck and weave along the servants' corridors, a few times emerging onto the main halls for a moment, before taking the next door back to the inner workings of the castle. It's like a maze, but Kevin is letting his feet guide the way. Even after all these years, he still knows where he's going.

They come to a sudden stop by a door, in front of which stands a singular guard. She notices them, unsheathes her sword with a shout. Kevin has no time to think.

"Give me the box!" he shouts and has already snatched it from Sam's arms before they have time to react. It burns his hands, burns them intensly, but he holds it. He rears it back. He chucks it at the guard.

To her credit she drops the sword and catches the box. Then she cries out in pain and drops it too. By then Kevin and Sam are past her and through the door she was guarding.

He slams the door shut and bolts it.

"But... the box!" Sam exclaims.

"We don't need the box!" Kevin yells. He rushes over to a desk by a window, starts to empty it's drawers. Where is it?!

Outside they can hear the guard shouting for backup.

"What do you mean, what are you doing?!" They're just standing there, trying to process everything, waving their hands. "The Heart!"

"It's fine!" he shouts. He can hear people approaching on the other side of the door. A lot of people. "Stack some furniture in front of the door!"

"Furniture-- this is a bedroom!" Sam is screeching. "Whose bedroom is this?"

The heartbeat in his ears is double. He finally finds what he's looking for and pulls out a small glass jar. Inside is red powder.

"Kevin!" Sam yells.

"Just a moment!" he shouts back, strambling over to the wall, pulling back the curtain covering it. He starts to trace over the still vaguely there sigil with the powder.

There's banging outside the door. Yelling. Something slams against it, hard.

"Kevin!!"

"It's fine!!" he shouts. He's drawing furiously. "Come here!"

He's distantly aware of Sam moving closer. Even more ruckus outside. SLAM!

"Are you done?" they ask. They sound very scared now. He drops the jar.

He reaches into his shirt and pulls out the silver pendant. He snaps the chain.

SLAM!!

He mutters a quick incantation.

CRASH!!!

The door bursts open and a dozen guards come pouring in. Sam screams. He grabs them by the elbow and slams the pendant against the wall.

The portal opens up and swallows them inside.

____________________________________________________________

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOY!! Here's this behemot of a thing! Two more parts!!! Next part is "Hazard"

Pie out.