Beauty X Beast ~ Twenty-Four!

Danielle sprinted up the stairs, knowing she was already far behind the Beast. Sneezy was right behind her, shouting for her to slow down. She refused, though not out of anything other than simply not hearing his words. Her mind was already too full, to the point where her questions spilled from her lips as she ascended. “What did he mean Gasteel might already have been on the way here? Did he know about the attack before it was coming, or… something… else?”

She rushed down the cheerfully painted hallway, slipping through the door of the and onto the lawn as it slowly swung shut from the Beast’s passing. He was far ahead of her, and even as she stepped onto the lawn, the thunderous exchange between the two sides had already begun.

“I demand to know what happened here!” Gasteel’s deep voice seemed to resonate with the air itself, causing a shiver of fear and discomfort to shoot through Danielle. With an effort of will, she kept one foot moving in front of the other, though her pace had slowed considerably. 

Even with the dramatic flair, the self-righteous indignation sounded real, as though the muscled man were grieving the loss of some of his people, “There was an attack against my people, and I will have an explanation. I'm declaring a formal investigation; open the gates of this estate. Now.”

The Beast stood tall, armor extended slightly from his body to make him look even larger than he was. The sun was at his back as he replied with his own mechanical growl, the volume of his voice easily outmatching Gasteel. “There was no attack from this estate. Those who died here trespassed or were killed by an unknown force.”

“You will open this gate-”

“Let me make one thing very clear, Baron Gasteel,” the Beast spoke over the shouting commander. “You have no authority here. You are not speaking to soldiers, peasants, knights, or even a fellow Baron on the same footing as yourself. You are attempting to give orders to Comte LeKrout. As a reminder, as I know you have been recently elevated, the noble hierarchy continues from Baron to Vicomte, and from there to Comte. There is as much distance between your authority and Comte LeKrout’s as there is between him and the king.” 

By this point, Danielle had found a ladder and was quickly scaling the wall, hoping to see what was going on. By the silence, she could only assume the baron was gearing up to explode at the mechanical servant, but the expected outburst never came. 

Instead, Gasteel spoke in a moderated voice, likely through clenched teeth. “We will be looking through the carnage out here. If I can find any reason to make you give a proper accounting, I will. This is not over. My men, soldiers who relied on me for their safety and well-being… are laying as corpses at the foot of your estate.”

“Then perhaps you should have stationed them elsewhere.” The ensuing silence caused Danielle to pause as she climbed the ladder, not wanting to pop her head over the wall and offer the baron a new target for his ire. 

After a moment, she heard the jangling of metal as the baron's people got to work outside of the wall, and decided to slowly descend the ladder and wait to speak with the Beast. She was attempting to carefully study the situation, thinking through all possible avenues for not only the Beast’s refusal, but the baron's presence itself.

“Even yesterday, I would have thought Gasteel was in the right.” She spoke into the air, trying to get her thoughts out of her head to leave behind room for ideas. “He sounds so grief stricken… but… even if he truly is, the Beast is doing the right thing by refusing to allow them entrance. There's more at stake here than I ever expected.” 

The tension in the air remained as people began calling back and forth, and the casualties were collected, separated, and inspected. The sun slowly traveled across the sky as they continued, but Danielle didn't move from her spot, simply waiting to hear the outcome. She needed to know if they had truly done something despicable… and she was deeply disappointed to hear what the eventual result was.

Eventually, Gasteel returned to shout up at the stationary Beast. “Many of the fallen are riddled with metal from sources we do not recognize. Our best guess is that you and your creatures cut them down.”

“I'm certain you were able to notice the fact that the only people who were slain by the estate’s defenses bore no sigil and were the aggressors against your men,” the Beast replied easily, almost as though it were bored of the conversation. 

“That's where you're wrong.” There was some quiet shuffling before the baron continued. “As you can see, this is one of my men, and he was clearly killed by-”

“Even from here I can recognize that armor is covered in damage from a radiant spell.” The Beast cut Gasteel off before he could build up a full head of steam. “Yet the corpse does not have any signs of radiant damage to its skin. If you are going to play dress-up with the dead, at least have the decency to put some effort in. I warn you, baron, any further attempts to malign, lie, or force entry through false methods will result in the Comte invoking an official charge against you.” 

Gasteel took the denial in stride, continuing to bluster, “I don't think that's what happened. There are clear signs of your mechanisms outside of these walls. I think you’ve overstepped the bounds of your house arrest. By the authority of the king, granted to me as the military recruiter on behalf of Verdelune, I officially demand your return to the war effort under my banner. Failure to do so will be cause enough for your oath to the crown to be considered broken. Are you willing to bet your life that you are within compliance, Comte?”

A long, dangerous *hiss* of steam escaped the Beast. For a long, dangerous moment, that was the only sound… then there was a crash of metal as the Beast leapt over the wall and landed on the other side.

Danielle practically flew up the remainder of the ladder, desperate to see what was happening. By the time she peeked over the stone barrier, the Beast was looming over the baron, nearly three feet taller than the fleshy man. “Baron Gasteel. It is within my rights to demand an honor duel with you at this very moment. Clearly, you have only a surface level understanding of what is happening here, which is the only reason I am not cutting you down where you stand.”

“You can't-”

“The Comte is bound to his territory, not his house.” The Beast would have been literally spitting mad at the baron, if it was a human. “Tell me, how much land do you think a man two steps from the throne of Verdelune has under his control? I could follow you for hours in any direction and still not take a single step outside my master’s territory. Others are allowed to be in this land at his suffrage… and I think we will suffer your presence no longer.”

A heartbeat after the Beast finished speaking, its eyes shifted to a deep red, causing no less than thirty swords to be drawn in preparation for a fight. “You are officially exiled from my territory, baron. While I cannot keep you off my land when you are on a mission for the king, the moment you have completed your task, you will see yourself away. I am adding this directive to the local ward structure as we speak.”

Danielle watched as the blood drained from Gasteel’s face, and he sputtered with rage as a tingle of energy raced through the air. “You can't—I'm a Baron!”

“Yet you don't even know how to interface with the laws of the kingdom directly.” the Beast scathingly replied, his eyes once more his standard blue. “If you had done your duty properly, you would already know how to block what I just did. But it's already in place. You will need to petition the king directly to have my decision reversed, at this point. Please, go before him. Explain why you need to be there, begging for help.” 

Letting out a deep, guttural roar of frustration, Gasteel turned on his heel and marched over to his horse. He leapt up, sending back one parting glare before digging his heels into the animal. “Don't think you’re hidden up there, Belle. Someone tell her what's going on. Came as a favor, and this is how-”

Then he was galloping away, leaving a trail of dust to mark his passing. With the low-noble gone, Danielle stood to her full height. She looked at the assembled soldiers, not recognizing anyone among them. Taking a deep breath, she called out, “What did he mean by that?” 

It seemed that no one wanted to be the first to answer, but finally, a man with his body mostly covered in armor—marking him as a sergeant at the minimum—stepped forward to offer an explanation. “Our original purpose for coming all this way was for the baron to offer his explanations to you, so you didn’t hear what was happening and assume the worst of him.”

“Just… just tell me. Is my father…?”

The soldier pulled his helmet off, revealing a weathered face and close-cropped hair. “Henri is currently alive and well, but an execution date has been set for him. After a careful study of the kingdom's laws-”

Here the man sent a deep glower at the Comte’s representative, “-it was discovered that someone found guilty of espionage needed to be publicly executed within a specific amount of time, unless their sentence was commuted or superb reason was offered for their continued existence. As neither has occurred, two weeks from this day, the traitor’s life will be cut short. The baron hoped to offer his most sincere apologies and explain on his own terms why it was out of his hands.”

Danielle tried to reply but found that her voice was caught in her throat, which was suddenly too dry to allow for speaking. She simply stood there in a daze, shaking her head slightly—her thoughts filled to the brim with questions that demanded an answer. But, no matter how she tried, she simply couldn’t ask.

The cleanup had mostly been completed already, but the soldiers remained on site for a decent amount of time longer before finally turning and galloping away, all of the bodies secured… or at least hidden from her view. Danielle didn't even notice when the Beast had returned to the wall, at least not until she felt a cold, steely grip on her arm.

“I'm terribly sad you needed to see that, and yet I'm relieved that you came out here to see and hear what lengths they are willing to go to. Why I must be more than merely vigilant; I must be actively resistant to unauthorized visitors.” The Beast sent her an annoyed glance. “Which is why your seemingly effortless entrance onto the estate was such a cause for concern.”

Danielle pulled away. “This is not the time, Beast. My father is to be put to death because I’m resisting Gasteel’s demands. I need some time.”

Before she could go too far, she was stopped once more. The Enchantress turned to snap at the Beast, only to bite her tongue as she realized its eyes were red, and she was now speaking to the Artificer. 

“Do you remember what I told you a few days ago? That I've made a decision? Perhaps it’s time for me to open up to someone else once more. If you will hear me out… there's more to my story that you should know.”