75: Ingwion in Vanyamar

"What’s been happening here, Sérener?" Ingwion asked softly as the two made their way along the main avenue leading to the palace. It climbed along the back of the precipice on which the palace stood. There was little in the way of traffic and Ingwion was unsure what it might mean. "You are a member of my atar’s personal guard. Why are you helping to man the gates?"

Sérener cast him an uneasy look. "I was let go," he said softly.

Ingwion stopped and stared at him in disbelief. "Who let you go? Atar?"

The ellon shook his head. "Nay. It was Prince Ingoldo. He said my services were no longer needed since it did not seem as if the High King was returning to Vanyamar any time soon and they needed additional guards at the city gates."

Ingwion frowned, trying to understand the ellon’s words. "What did he mean, the High King was not returning to Vanyamar?"

The guard shrugged. "I do not know, your Highness. I only know what I was told." He gave the prince a sour look. "I am not the only one who was dismissed. Others from the palace, those I think who may be a threat to Prince Ingoldo, have also been dismissed from service. Some of them are without employment. At least I still have work, little though I like it."

Ingwion shook his head. "Come on. You can tell me on the way all that has happened since my amillë returned with our people. What mischief is my uncle up to now and why hasn’t the queen done anything about it?"

"There have been rumors, but nothing more than that," Sérener said in a whisper, looking about uneasily, as if fearing to be overheard. "The rumors say that the queen has secluded herself until the High King returns, and that Prince Ingoldo has taken over the reins of government."

"I cannot imagine Ammë hiding away," Ingwion commented with a frown, "and what about Aunt Indis? She’s unlikely to let her brother get away with such a thing. And Ingalaurë. Where is he in all this?"

"I do not know, Highness," Sérener said apologetically. "I only know that Prince Ingoldo dismissed me and that no one has seen the Queen since we returned from Valmar. As for Prince Ingalaurë or Lady Indis...." He gave a shrug. "I suspect you will learn more of their fate than I."

Ingwion nodded with a grimace, a sick, cold lump settling in the pit of his stomach. He was puzzled by what the guard had told him. The Queen hiding herself away was so unlike his ammë that he suspected more was going on than he knew, but Sérener was correct that he would soon know the truth of things. He was concerned about Ingalaurë. What had happened to his twin? What part did he play in all this? More than anything he wished his atar were there and wondered again what could have kept him from returning to Vanyamar with Aunt Indis.

They had reached the gates of the palace and guards were demanding to know their business. Sérener scowled. "Do you not recognize your prince when you see him?" he demanded and the guards had the grace to look abashed as they stepped aside to allow Ingwion to enter. Sérener gave the prince a salute. "Here I leave you, Highness, but know that if you ever have need, send word and I will come."

Ingwion smiled at the ellon. "Thank you, Sérener. I appreciate your support." Then he called for grooms to take the horses and set off for the palace, meaning to find answers to his myriad questions. No one stopped him, though one or two servants whom he passed gave him startled, even fearful, looks before scurrying away on whatever business they were on. Ingwion filed that away for later, intent on reaching the royal apartments. He was not at all surprised to find himself coming face-to-face with Ingoldo, who met him with a contingent of armed guards. Ingwion recognized Tulcaner and a couple of others. He schooled his expression to one of polite disinterest.

"Greetings, Uncle," he said. "I understand there have been some changes while I’ve been away."

Ingoldo sneered. "And all for the better, I assure you."

"Where is Ammë?"

"In her suite, of course."

"I will go and pay my respects then." Ingwion started to push past his uncle, who grabbed his arm.

"Elindis does not wish to be disturbed," Ingoldo said unctuously.

Ingwion stared at the ellon, his expression dark. "Let go of me, Uncle," he said softly. The two glared at one another for several minutes but it was Ingoldo who looked away, releasing his hold on him. Ingwion forbore smiling in triumph; he merely nodded. "If you ever dare to lay hands on me again, Ingoldo, you will not live long enough to regret it." The cold menace of his tone brought Ingoldo up short and he stared at his nephew in shocked disbelief and his guards stirred uneasily, some even backing away. Ingwion decided to press his advantage. "I will go and pay my respects to the Queen, and then I want to see my brother and sister in my apartments. You will please have them found and my message delivered."

Without giving Ingoldo or anyone else time to protest, he pushed his way past the guards and headed for his parents’ apartments, forcing himself to walk calmly, his back straight, as if he had not a care in the world. He could feel his uncle’s eyes on him and was grateful when he turned a corner and was now out of Ingoldo’s sight. He allowed himself to take a deep breath and felt himself trembling slightly, but forced himself to keep walking. By the time he reached the door of his parents’ private sitting room, he had gotten himself under control. He was unsurprised to find a guard in front of the door, one whom he did not know. The guard eyed him suspiciously. Ingwion smiled grimly.

"I wish to see my amillë," he said in an imperious tone. "Please inform her of my arrival."

"I have orders...."

"And I have just given you another one," Ingwion cut him off, allowing his impatience to show. "I have not traveled all the way from Tirion for you to deny me entrance, sirrah. Now, announce me."

The guard hesitated for a moment and then shrugged, pulling out a key from a pouch on his belt. Ingwion immediately wrested the key from him, giving him a murderous look. "You dare to lock the Queen in her own rooms? Go! Get out of here before I do something you will regret, though I assure you, I will not. Go!"

The force of his command shattered the guard’s resolve and the ellon fled, no doubt to tell Ingoldo, but Ingwion did not care. He muttered a curse and fumbled with the key, opening the door to find Elindis standing there with Indis at her side.

"Ingwion!" Elindis cried, rushing to her son.

Ingwion grabbed her and hugged her fiercely. "Ammë! What is happening? Why has Ingoldo locked you in?"

Elindis pulled away to give him a sorrowful look. "He’s taken over," she said. "I did not even know he had the key until I discovered I could not leave the apartments. Indis and I have been locked in here for some time now."

"At least three days, by my reckoning," Indis stated with a huff of annoyance.

"And the others?" Ingwion enquired. "Where are Ingil and Indil?"

"We have no idea," Elindis admitted. "The last time I saw either one of them, it would have been nearly a week gone. I held a council to determine what should be done for our people. Tamurilon volunteered to visit the farms to see how they were faring without the Light of the Trees and Indil said she would go with him. For all I know, they’re still traveling about. Ingil... I do not know. He could be locked up as well."

"Ingoldo has gone too far," Indis snorted angrily. "And why hasn’t Ingwë returned? When we reached Valmar, he said he was going to speak with Lord Manwë and then follow us. He shouldn’t have been more than a few hours behind us. Even if he elected to stay and rest for a time, he should have arrived long before this. Did you not see him in Valmar?"

Ingwion shook his head. "I did not come by way of Valmar. I came overland from Tirion."

"What about Ingoldo?" Elindis asked.

"I met him on the way," Ingwion replied. "I am not sure what he plans to do next. I know he’s dismissed several of the servants whom he deems most loyal to you and has replaced them with others. The guard outside your door, for instance, is someone I never saw before."

"What do you plan to do, Nephew?" Indis asked, giving him a shrewd look.

"I need to find Ingil," he replied. "I need to find out who is loyal to us and who is not. Ingoldo has been telling people that you are in seclusion until Atar returns, Ammë. That is how he has been able to take over. I just wish I knew where Ingil and Indil are."

"How are you going to stop Ingoldo, though, my son?" Elindis asked. "He seems to have been plotting this for some time. I was taken completely unawares."

"Find Valandur," Indis suggested when Ingwion hesitated in his answer to his ammë’s question. "I suspect that he and Ingil are lying low somewhere, plotting."

"Unless Ingoldo has everyone under lock and key," Elindis said with a sigh. "I can tell you this: none of the servants who have come to bring our food or do any necessary cleaning are known to me."

"Do you think they are in Ingoldo’s pay?" Ingwion asked.

Elindis shrugged. "I do not know. Most of them appear rather nervous whenever they come here and will not make eye contact or engage in any conversation. It’s almost as if they are afraid."

Ingwion frowned and shook his head, giving a sigh. "Well, our first order of business is to get you out of here and out of the palace."

"Whyever for?" Elindis demanded.

"Because if we’re not here, my dear, Ingoldo cannot lock us in again," Indis said with a look of approval for her nephew.

"Where could we go, though?" Elindis asked. "And more importantly, how? I do not think Ingoldo is just going to allow us to walk out of here."

"We’ll worry about that later," Ingwion said. "Right now, we need to leave. That guard is no doubt running to Ingoldo and soon he’ll be back with reinforcements."

The two ellith nodded. "Lock the door behind us," Indis ordered Ingwion as they all stepped out into the corridor. "It may slow them down a bit trying to figure out why we’ve locked the door."

Ingwion gave his aunt a smile and complied with her suggestion. Then he led them away, past his own apartments and when they came to a set of stairs, he went up rather than down.

"Where are you taking us?" Elindis asked in a whisper.

Ingwion smiled. "You’ll see."

The two queens exchanged bemused looks but followed him without question. Ingwion brought them to a little used corner of the palace, an attic actually, consisting primarily of storage rooms. He paused before one particular door and opened it, gesturing for the ellith to proceed him. Once inside, he fumbled about at a small table set next to the door where candle stubs were found. Soon, they had light and he led them unerringly towards the back of the room, a room that was filled with chests and unwanted furniture placed haphazardly about. They had to weave their way through them until Ingwion stopped before the paneled wall. He turned to the two queens, giving them a conspiratorial look. "Don’t tell Ingil or Indil that I brought you here," he said. "This is our secret hideout."

Elindis gave her son an amused look. "You mean the one that you always went to whenever you wanted to get away from your tutors when you were all elflings?" She shook her head at Ingwion’s chagrined look. "My son, your atar and I have known about this place almost from the beginning. Why do you think we made sure the door to this room was kept unlocked?"

Ingwion raised an eyebrow at that, then gave them a sheepish smile. "And we thought we were being clever." He then turned to the wall and running his hand along one part of it, he found what he was looking for and pressed inward. Immediately, part of the wall moved inward and they stepped into another room. It was empty save for a couple of piles of now moldy rugs and furs and a few toys and children’s books. "We never understood why this room existed," he told them, "but we spent many a happy hour here, hiding from everyone."

"How did you ever discover it?" Indis asked, looking around.

"By accident, really," Ingwion replied. "Atar was showing us maps of the palace, giving us a lesson on its construction and architecture. It was Indil who noticed that this room was on the map but nowhere could we find it, for part of the lesson was to walk through the palace and examine each room, comparing its measurements with what was shown on the map. I think we spent some time trying to find a way into the room. Ingil suggested that maybe the door to it was covered up for some reason, so we started pounding on the wall." He laughed at the memory. "We noticed that there was a hollow sound just about here and then when we examined this section of the wall more closely, I noticed a knot in the wood, which was odd, because nowhere else was there a knot. Well, it didn’t take long for us to figure out the truth, but we never could understand why this room existed in the first place."

Elindis gave her son a secretive smile. "Did you ever wonder why your atar insisted he be the one to give you that particular lesson and that you had to check each and every room?"

Ingwion blinked in surprise. "You mean, you planned this...."

Elindis nodded. "When your atar was planning the palace he decided to have this hidden room put in for the sole purpose of giving his children, and no doubt his grandchildren, a place they could call their own, and supposedly discovered by them, keeping it a secret from the adults. Perhaps when you marry and have your own children, you will take it upon yourself to teach your children the same lesson your atar taught you and then let them discover this room on their own."

Ingwion laughed. "Perhaps I will. In the meantime, this should be a good place for you to hide. Do you think Ingoldo knows about this place?"

Elindis shook her head. "Ingoldo had no interest in how the palace was to be built. I doubt he ever even looked at the plans."

"Does Intarion know of this room?" Indis asked.

Ingwion nodded. "Oh yes. He was a co-conspirator. Of course, he’s not here, so it doesn’t matter. My uncle will learn nothing from him."

"Well, I suppose if we’re to hide here, we might as well make ourselves comfortable," Elindis said, settling herself down on one of the piles of fur, giving them a look of disgust at the dust that rose as she sat.

Ingwion gave them a chagrined look. "I’m sorry. I don’t know anywhere else that might be safe until I can figure out what to do next."

"Don’t you worry about that, Nephew," Indis said firmly. "We’ll be fine. Just leave us some light. I’m sure we can entertain ourselves with the toys and books you so thoughtfully left behind."

Ingwion snorted in amusement. "There should be candles on that shelf there. I’ll leave you this as I won’t need it. Now, I had better go find Ingil and the others." He gave Indis a kiss and then leaned down and hugged his ammë before departing. "Here’s the catch on this side," he said, showing them how the door could be opened and closed from the inside. "I’ll be back as soon as possible. I will knock thus on the door to let you know that I am back." He demonstrated what he meant, rapping on the wood in an intricate pattern of short and long knocks. When he was assured that his ammë and aunt had memorized the sequence, he stepped out of the room and crossed to the outer door even as Indis was closing the door to the hidden room. He then made his way down to the inhabited parts of the palace in search of his twin and Valandur.