Prince Marti was awoken from his troubled slumber by a scuffle outside his chamber. He tried to rise from his bed, but the wound at his side ached and he slumped back down. The fighting ended quickly enough and a sweaty guard entered his chambers, huffing for breath.
"What the devil was going on out there?"
"Assassins, Your Highness," the guard said. "I believe they were sent to kill you. Me and my fellow guards caught them though."
Marti finally forced himself from his bed at that. Blood seeped at his bandages, but he ignored them. He grabbed a cane beside his bed and hobbled out into the hallway. Two men were down on their knees with swords pointed at their necks. One had a large gash above his right eye and seemed on the verge of fainting from blood loss. The other seemed less hurt, although fear was clear on his face. The prince would use that to his advantage.
"Who sent you?" Marti demanded, a menacing scowl on his face.
"I-I-I don't know, sir," the man stuttered.
Marti smacked him in the side of the head with his cane. "Who sent you? I won't ask again."
"I can't say," the assassin said.
"You can't or you won't?"
The assassin gulped and looked down at the floor. Marti leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "Either you tell me who sent you or I will have your entire family hunted down and executed."
The assassin looked into Marti's eyes. The prince was more than serious. He would do it. He was far beyond caring what some peasants thought of him at this point. He wanted revenge.
When the man seemed hesitant to respond, Marti grabbed a knife from one of the guards and moved as if to stab him. That assassin cracked then and blurted out, "It was Saint-Pierre. Henri hired us."
"Good choice. Lock them up." Marti handed the knife back to guard and hobbled back towards the door. He sat down on his bed and clutched at his aching side. The bandages needed to be replaced, but first he had a letter to send to court. He had a score to settle.
* * * * *
((Public letter to all members of court))
Assassins were captured trying to take my life, the second time recently. After some brief interrogation, they revealed their paymaster: Henri de Saint-Pierre. No doubt word has reached you by now of his crime and he hopefully is rotting in prison. That is not good enough for him. Surely if he is guilty of this attempt, then it seems very likely he was responsible for the attack that ended with me gravely wounded. The man must be punished without remorse. As Chancellor and a member of the Small Council, I demand he be
executed. No one attempts to take my life and lives.
- Prince Marti de Trastámara
((If it's not clear, Marti is voting for Henri to be
executed. I'll try to have something written up for Pere later.))
((For future reference, does the Chamberlain get involved in trials? Against the nobility, he should be.))
((No, the Chamberlain is not considered part of the Small Council, since he serves more as a representative like the viceroys. Perhaps he should for nobles, but our administrative reforms included a clause stating that the Small Council judges all crimes. You're always free to suggest a reform for the Cortz and Chamberlain to judge nobles, but it'd have to come after the next update.))
))
