Death in Kandara

Garrett looked across the table at his Queen. She was gazing into the distance, taking a break from the not-so-scintillating conversations she had been engaged in with the men on either side of her. Her face, in repose, was both determined and cruel. A potentially lethal combination, heightened by the sharp edges of her cheekbones. Garrett was still getting to know Elowen as a wife.

They had only been wed for six months, an arranged marriage as was the custom in Kandara amongst the ruling class. They were both only 18 but had been groomed to take on the roles of Queen and Prince Consort since the untimely death of Elowen's father and brother in battle three years earlier.

While Elowen had been raised in the Royal Palace, Garrett's upbringing had been mainly on his family's country estate, engaged in the gentlemanly pastimes of hunting, shooting and fishing. He was generally considered not overly bright but highly personable, and all of these admirable skills and qualities combined to make him the perfect Consort. Elowen turned her gaze to him, beaming her best Duchenne smile and raising her wine goblet in his direction. He repeated her gesture, lifting his newly replenished vessel and winking rakishly. This earned him a scowl from the stuffed shirt on her right. The withered old cadaver on her left couldn't see that far across the table, and he was clearly in his cups anyway.

Elowen was bored. Excusing herself from the table, she walked towards the door, Garrett's eyes on her every move. As the guards opened the heavy wooden door, she turned towards him and held up three fingers before exiting. Three minutes later, as the musicians began to ramp up, ready for dancing, Garrett followed her. Reassuring the guards there was no need to accompany him, he caught up with Elowen as she reached the courtyard, the cloying smell of honeysuckle reaching his nostrils. Elowen began to run, and he chased her to the far side of the square, from where there was no escape. She turned to face him, her back against the wall, and he placed his hands on either side of her head. Tipping her face up towards his, Elowen moistened her lips, and Garrett caressed her face before leaning in for a kiss..........

Thirty minutes later, they returned to the banqueting hall and instructed the guards to open the door. They stepped into a scene of carnage. The guests were all dead, covered in vomit and faeces, some bleeding from their eyes and ears. The dessert had done its job. The musicians played on, their heads down, trying not to see the horror in front of their eyes. They had been paid handsomely to ignore anything untoward that occurred that night. Sadly, now they had to pay a price as the only witnesses to the poisoning of the entire royal court. Taking two each, Elowen and Garrett swiftly dispatched them, then surveyed their work.

They had a cleanup crew on standby. Nobody would ever tell them what to do again.